DVD Collectibles:
Celebrate the new year with Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou"
(1929). A landmark in the history of cinema, this is the surrealistic
masterpiece based on an exchange of dreams between the Spanish duo of Luis
Bunuel and Salvador Dali. Extras: Interview with Bunuel's son,
Juan-Luis; "Epilogue": Dali & Bunuel featurette; commentary by Surrealism expert
Stephen Barber; booklet containing an abridged transcript of Luis Bunuel's 1953
address: "Mystery of Cinema." From Facets Video for $19.95. (Posted December
27)

From TV to Video:
Due this week:
"Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries," $27.98 from Universal
... "John Le Carre's A Murder of Quality," 1991 British TV
adaptation of the Le Carre novel, starring Denholm Elliott, Glenda Jackson and
Christian Bale, from A&E Home Video ... "King of the Hill Season
Three," a three-disc set with 24 episodes, $39.98 from Fox ...
"Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 1," a four-disc set with all 12
episodes from Seasons 1 and 2, $69.95 from A&E Home Video ... "Rumpole
of the Bailey, Set 2," a four-disc set with all 12 episodes from
Seasons 3 and 4, $69.95 from A&E Home Video ... "Sapphire and Steel: The
Complete Series" (1979-1982), a six-disc set of the British precursor
to "The X-Files," starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum, $99.95 from A&E
Home Video... "Sex and the City: Season Six, Part Two," a
three-disc set with the final eight, uncut episodes, $49.99 from HBO Video ...
"Tour of Duty: The Second Season," a four-disc set with 16
episodes, $49.95 from Columbia TriStar. (Posted December 27)

Coming Soon:
Due February 15 is the acclaimed "The Motorcycle Diaries,"
directed by Walter Salles and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna
and Mia Maestro in the inspiring real-life story of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and
Alberto Granado's brave
motorcycle trip across the complex human and social topography of Latin America,
from Universal. (Posted December 20)

DVD Collectibles:
Home Vision Entertainment will release this week Joan Micklin Silver's
"Hester Street" (1975), the touching tale of a young Jewish
woman
who comes to America in the 1890s only to discover that her husband has given up
the ways of the old country, and taken up with a new girlfriend, and a new life.
The film, in a new digital transfer enhanced for 16:9 televisions and in English
and Yiddish with optional English subtitles, stars Carol Kane and Stephen Keats
... Also from Home Vision comes Elaine May's crime thriller "Mikey &
Nicky" (1977), starring John Cassavetes, Peter Falk and Ned Beatty,
restored with copious extras. (Posted December 20)

From TV to Video:
Due this week: "The 4400," a two-disc set, under $20 from
Paramount ... "The Simpsons Complete Fifth Season," a four-disc
set with 22 episodes, $49.98 from Fox ... "Star Trek: Voyager -- The
Complete Seventh Season," a seven-disc set with 24 episodes, under $100
from Paramount. (Posted December 20)

Special Interest:"Ruth Duckworth: A Life in Clay" is a 2002 documentary on the
leading ceramist Ruth Duckworth (83-years-old and still working), who's
recognized for her creative influence on the art of ceramics and whose work
graces museums and private collections around the world. From Home Vision
Entertainment, $14.95. (Posted December 20)

DVD Collectibles:
Due this week is the "Rocky Anthology," a six-disc set with all
five "Rocky" films (with high-definition transfers and DTS sound) with a bonus
disc featuring an A&E Biography, "Sylvester Stallone: The Rocky Road to the
Top," $62.96 from
MGM ... Famed "noir" director Kinji Fukasaku's
"The Yakuza Papers (Battles Without Honor and Humanity)" is a
six-disc boxed set ($99.95) from Home Vision Entertainment. In the wake of The
Bomb, ex-soldier Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara) joins a Hiroshima yakuza gang --
the Japanese
equivalent of the Mafia -- and then the shootings, slashings, betrayals, and
scheming begin. Premiering a year after "The Godfather," "The Yakuza Papers"
also broke boxoffice records and spawned sequels (four), but, in contrast to
"The Godfather," it took a ruthlessly
de-romanticized view of the underworld. Based on an actual gang boss' memoirs,
the series is available for the first time in the U.S., on the 30th anniversary
of the original theatrical release ... And don't forget "The Lord
of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition," a
four-disc set ($29.95) loaded with extras including 50 minutes of new and
extended scenes, new interviews with cast and crew, and much, much more; and
"The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King Collector's DVD Set," a five-disc set
($69.95) housed in a Minas Tirith polystone keepsake box with all the Extended
Edition bonus material plus a fifth disc with "Creating The Lord of the Rings
Symphony" by Howard Shore;
from New Line. (Posted December 13)

From TV to Video:"Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Second Season" is a
five-disc set with 25 episodes, $44.98 from HBO Video ... "Family Guy:
The Freakin' Sweet
Collection" highlights five of the best episodes from Seasons 2 and 3,
$19.98 from Fox ... "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" includes
five episodes from the TV series, from Urbanworks Entertainment ...
"Newlyweds; Nick
& Jessica -- The Complete First Season" is at two-disc set with 10
episodes, under $20 from Paramount ... "Quantum Leap -- The Complete
Second Season,"
a three-disc set, $59.98 from Universal ... "Reba: The Complete First
Season" is a three-disc set, $39.98. from Fox ... "Star Trek
the Original Series: The
Complete Third Season" is a seven-disc set with 24 episodes, packed in
a cool plastic pod, priced around $100 from Paramount. (Posted December
13)

Coming Soon:
Due December 28 on DVD for the first time is "Un Chien Andalou"
(1929), the landmark film and surrealistic masterpiece based on an exchange of
dreams between the Spanish duo of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali, from Facets
Video for $19.95
... On January 18 get ready to catch football drama
"Friday Night Lights," starring Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas
Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez and Lee Jackson, from Warner
... Also on that day Columbia TriStar will release the Holocaust drama
"Rosenstrasse," starring Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Martin
Feifel, Jurgen Vogel and Jutta Lampe ... On January 25 Columbia TriStar will
release "Head in the Clouds," a romantic melodrama starring
Charlize Theron,
Penelope Cruz, Stuart Townsend and Thomas Kretschmann ... On February 15
horrific thrills come home with "Saw," starring Leigh Whannell,
Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith and Monica
Potter, from Lions
Gate ... Comedy "Taxi," starring Queen Latifah and Jimmy
Fallon, toots its way to home video, from Fox on February 15 ... and, from New
Yorker on that day comes the intriguing documentary "My Architect: A
Son's
Journey," from New Yorker. (Posted December 6)

DVD Collectibles:
There's a host of goodies this week just ripe for the wrapping. First off
there's the "George Stevens Centennial Classics" collection of
seven discs celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great
director. New to DVD are "Gunga Din,"
"I Remember Mama," "George Stevens: D-Day to Berlin" and "George Stevens: A
Filmmaker's Journey," $19.97 each (see separate listings this week); Warner will
also re-release "Alice Adams" and "Woman of the Year" at $19.97 each and the
"Giant Special Edition"
two-disc set for $26.99. (Warner); all with extras ... Another great cinema name
also gets his due this week when Warner releases "The Buster Keaton
Collection," a two-disc set with three Keaton films: Silents "The
Cameraman" (1928) and "Spite
Marriage" (1929) and Keaton's first talkie, "Free and Easy" (1930), $23.98,
loaded with extras ... For more modern excitement there's Warner's remarkable
10-disc DVD set "The Ultimate Matrix Collection," featuring all
three "Matrix" films
together
for the first time with a newly remastered picture and sound for "The Matrix."
Also included is the companion piece "The Matrix Revisited" and the best-selling
"The Animatrix," plus five entirely new DVDs packed solid with brand-new
supplemental materials that
encompass every aspect of the Matrix universe for a total of 35 Hours of extras
overall. Suggested retail price is $79.92. Warner will also release "The
Ultimate Matrix Collection Limited Edition" that throws in a limited-edition Neo
mini-bust figurine and an 80-page
Collector's Book, for $129.92 SRP.

From The Criterion Collection comes the classic Fritz Lang thriller
"M" in a special-edition double-disc set. The 1931 film,
starring Peter Lorre, features a restored high-definition digital transfer and
tons of extras including commentary by German
film scholar Eric Rentschler, author of "The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema
and Its Afterlife," and Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on
"M"; Claude Chabrol's "M le Maudit," a short film inspired by "M"; a booklet
featuring an essay by film critic
Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, and the script for a missing
scene; and much, much more. Also from Criterion is Cecil B. De Mille's 1931
"The King of Kings" in a special-edition double-disc set. "The
King of Kings" is the
Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it: Working with
the biggest budget in the history of Hollywood at the time, DeMille spun the
life and Passion of Christ into one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
Criterion's set includes restored digital
transfers of two versions of the film: DeMille's
155-minute roadshow version and his subsequent 112-minute general release,
featuring new Dolby Digital 5.1 scores by
composers Donald Sosin (1927 version) and Timothy J. Tikker (1931 version), plus
the original score for the 1931 release by Hugo Riesenfeld; the set is also
loaded with extras.

The folks at Disney have released Wave 4 of their "Walt Disney Treasures." Each
of these amazing two-disc volumes comes in a collectible tin, priced at $32.99
each: "Walt Disney Treasures: The Mickey Mouse Club (Week One)"
showcases one
of the most famous television programs in the world: The first week's worth of
hour-long shows that aired Monday to Friday on the ABC Television Network. Here
are the famous Mouseketeers, the mouse-ear hats, the music, the skits, and more.
The DVD programs are
presented as the show was, with Monday's Fun With Music Day, Tuesday's Guest
Star Day, Wednesday's Anything Can Happen Day, Thursday's Circus Day and
Friday's Talent Round-Up Day. Bonus materials include a retrospective with film
historian Leonard Maltin
and the original Mouseketeers; merchandising and publicity materials, and much
more. "Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White (Volume
Two)" features 21 of Mickey's incredibly entertaining black and white
shorts from 1928
through 1935; loaded with extras. "Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete
Pluto (Volume One)" collects 28 of the animated "Pluto" cartoon shorts
into one collection; loaded with extras.

Two modern films that caused quite a stir when released theatrically come to
DVD this week: "Wild at Heart Special Edition" (1990),
directed by David Lynch and starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe,
Isabella Rossellini, Harry
Dean Stanton, Crispin Glover and Diane Ladd, with the transfer supervised by
Lynch ... and Brian De Palma's iconoclastic "Hi, Mom! (1970),
starring Robert De Niro, Jennifer Salt and Allen Garfield; both from MGM.
(Posted
December 6)

Buzzin the 'B's:"Heart of America" (2003) is a chilling look at today's high
schools as it follows the last day of the school term when two seniors with a
murder/suicide pact plan to take weapons to school to exact revenge on their
abusers, starring Jurgen
Prochnow, Michael Pare, Patrick Muldoon, Maria Conchita Alonso, Clint Howard,
Elisabeth Moss and Kett Turton, from MTI Home Video on DVD and VHS. (Posted
December 6)

From TV to Video:
Due this week are: "Carnivale: The Complete First Season,"
$99.98 from HBO Video ... "Crusade: The Complete Series," a
four-disc set with 13 episodes of the "Babylon 5" spinoff, $59.98 from Warner
...
"The Flintstones: The Complete Second Season," a
four-disc set with 32 episodes, $44.98 from Warner ... "Gilmore Girls:
The Complete Second Season," a six-disc set with 22 episodes, $59.98
from Warner ... "M*A*S*H Television Season Seven," a three-disc
set with 26
episodes, $39.98 from Fox ... "Star Trek: Voyager -- The Complete Sixth
Season," a seven-disc set with 26 episodes, under $100 from Paramount
... and "24 Season Three,"
a seven-disc set with 24 episodes, $69.98 from Fox. (Posted December
6)

For the Kids:
Due this week: "Kim Possible: The Villain Files," featuring
four animated episodes from the Disney Channel series, $19.99 DVD and $14.99 VHS
from Disney ... "That's So Raven: Supernaturally Stylish,"
featuring four episodes from the Disney Channel series starring Raven Simone,
$19.99 DVD and $14.99 VHS from Disney ... "Top Cat: The Complete
Series," a four-disc set, $44.98 from Warner ... "Garfield and
Friends: Volume
2" is a compilation of 24 episodes from the first two years of the
Saturday morning cartoon series, in a three-disc set for $39.98 from Fox ...
"Gargoyles: The Complete First Season," a special 10th
anniversary two-disc set that features
the complete first season of the animated show, $29.99 from Disney ... and the
final two volumes of the Power Rangers Dinothunder series, "Power
Rangers Dinothunder Volume 4: Collision Course" and "Power
Rangers Dinothunder
Volume 5: Triassic Triumph," $19.99 DVD and $14.99 VHS each.
(Posted December 6)

Special Interest:
Billed as "A sizzling biography of one of America's hottest dishes,"
"Julia Child! America's Favorite Chef" is an American Masters
Special on the cook who revolutionized American cooking and eating habits, on
$19.95 DVD and VHS from
WGBH Boston Video. (Posted December 6)

Coming Soon:
Due December 28 from DreamWorks is "Ghost in the Shell 2:
Innocence,"
acclaimed writer-director Mamoru Oshii's follow up to his cult anime hit "Ghost
in the Shell" ... Due February 1 is the long-awaited "Degrassi Junior
High -- Season 1,"
featuring 13 episodes for $39.95, from WGBH Boston Video. (Posted November
29)

From TV to Video:
Due this week: "Lost in Space Season Two: Volume Two," a
four-disc set with 16 episodes, $39.98 from Fox ... "Northen Exposure --
The Complete Second Season," a two-disc set, $59.98 from Universal ...
"The Protectors," a four-disc set with 26 episodes of the 70s
cult classic featuring a trio of British crimefighters, $79.95 from A&E Home
Video ... and "Tru Calling Season One," a six-disc set with 20
episodes, $59.98 from Fox. (Posted November 29)

Coming Soon:
The much-in-demand "Miami Vice" is finally coming to DVD with
the release on February 8 of Season One, a three-disc set, remixed in 5.1
Surround, featuring an introduction by creator-director Michael Mann, "The Vibe
of Vice" featurette, a
"Back-Story: Miami Vice" featurette, and featurettes on the series' fashion and
music, from Universal for $59.98 ... Theatrical releases just announced include
flop comedy "Surviving Christmas," starring Ben Affleck, James
Gandolfini, Christina
Applegate and Catherine O'Hara, due December 21 from DreamWorks;
"Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2," a very silly kids film starring
Jon Voight and Scott Baio, on $19.96 VHS and DVD, due January 4 from Columbia
TriStar; On January 18
Lions gate will release comedy "The Cookout," starring Ja Rule,
Tim Meadows and Jenifer Lewis; Paramount will release "Sky Captain and
the World of Tomorrow," starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Giovanni
Ribisi,
Michael Gambon, Ling Bai and Angelina Jolie, on January 25; On February 1
Miramax will release the recent boxoffice hit horror-shocker "The
Grudge," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar; Romantic comedy "Shall
We
Dance?" starring Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon and
Stanley Tucci will arrive February 1 from Miramax; On February 15 New Line will
release Hilary Duff romantic drama "Raise Your Voice"; and, on
March 8 Buena
Vista will release "Ladder 49," starring Joaquin Phoenix and
John Travolta. (Posted November 22)

DVD Collectibles:
Radley Metzger is a legend in the production and distribution of erotic films as
well as a distinguished director whose trademarks include lavish set design,
witty screenplays, unusual camera techniques and stories of sexual decadence and
seduction. First Run Features has
put together three of his art-house outings -- "Therese and Isabelle," "The
Alley Cats" and "Camille 2000" -- together in a boxed set, "The Radley
Metzger Collection: Volume 1," for $49.95, available now ... Also due
this week is
"Tanner on Tanner," the follow-up to "Tanner '88," from Robert
Altman and satirist Garry Trudeau, directed by Robert Altman and starring
Michael Murphy, Cynthia Nixon and Pamela Reed, on DVD from Showtime. (Posted
November
22)

From TV to Video:
The long awaited Seinfeld makes its way to video this week with the release of
"Seinfeld Volume 1," a four-disc set with all 18 episodes from
Seasons One and Two, and "Seinfeld Volume 2," a four-disc set
with all 22
episodes from Season Three, both sets loaded with extras and selling at $49.95
each, and the "Seinfeld Deluxe Holiday Gift Set," which
contains "Seinfeld Volume 1" and "Seinfeld Volume 2" in a boxed set that
includes a limited edition script
with handwritten notes from Larry David, exclusive
"Monk's Diner" salt & pepper shakers and collectible playing cards; $119.95; all
from Columbia TriStar. Other releases this week: "Boy Meets World Season
Two," a three-disc set with 23 episodes, $49.99 from Buena Vista ...
"Dark
Shadows DVD Collection 15," a four-disc set with 40 episodes, $59.98
from MPI Home Video ... "Golden Girls Season One," a three-disc
set with 25 episodes, $49.99 from Buena Vista ... "Home Improvement
Season
One," a three-disc set with 24 episodes, $49.99 from Buena Vista ...
"Lizzie McGuire Boxed Set: Vol. 1," a four-disc set with 22
episodes, $49.99 from Buena Vista ... "The Protectors," a
four-disc set with 26
episodes of the 70s cult classic featuring a trio of
British crimefighters, $79.95 from A&E Home Video ... "The
Ranch," a 2004 telefilm starring Amy Madigan and Nicki Micheaux in a
look at the steamy and gritty lives of women in a working brothel, on VHS and
R-rated and unrated DVD,
from MGM ... "A Touch of Frost Season 4,"> a three-disc set of
the popular British detective series; $49.98 from MPI Home Video. (Posted
November 22)

Buzzin the 'B's:"Unstoppable" is a 2004 spy thriller about a former Special Ops
soldier -- mistaken for a CIA agent -- who, after being kidnapped and injected
with a mind-controlling drug, escapes and goes in search of the villains,
starring Wesley Snipes, from
Columbia TriStar ... "Doing Hard Time" is a 2004 revenge flick
about a man who goes behind bars to deal out justice to the men who accidentally
killed his 7-year-old son during a drug-deal-gone-bad, starring Boris Kodjoe,
Giancarlo Esposito
and Jaszmin Lexis, from Columbia TriStar. (Posted November 22)

For the Kids:"As Told by Ginger: The Wedding Frame" contains three animated
episodes from the popular Nick show, from Paramount ... "In Search of
Santa" is a direct-to-video animated feature about two penguin princess
sisters,
Crystal and Lucinda, who set out on a journey to find the elusive Santa Claus,
featuring the voices of Hilary Duff and her sister Haylie Duff, from Miramax on
$19.99 DVD and $14.99 VHS. (Posted November 22)

Special Interest:
Manga Entertainment will release this week the 12-part video comic series
"The Guyver," about a powerful mechanized warrior who must
defend humankind against the Zoanoids, devastating bio-weapons created by an
ancient alien race's gruesome
genetic experiments, in a two-disc boxed set for $39.98 ... "Ray Charles
Celebrates a Gospel Christmas With the Voices of Jubilation!" is a
90-minute performance by the legendary singer -- his last filmed live
performance -- originally released in
October 2003, on DVD from Urbanworks Entertainment. (Posted November
22)

DVD Collectibles:
The work of two great American artists merge in "Short Cuts,"
maverick director Robert Altman's kaleidoscopic adaptation of the stories of
renowned author Raymond Carver. The critically-acclaimed 1993 film interweaves
the stories of 22 characters as they struggle to find solace and meaning in
contemporary Los Angeles. The extraordinary ensemble cast includes Tim Robbins,
Julianne Moore, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Lemmon, and Jennifer Jason Leigh-all
giving fearless performances in what is one of Altman's most compassionate
creations. The film makes its DVD premiere in a feature-filled two-disc set from
The Criterion Collection ... Criterion will also release this week the
definitive version(s) of Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and
Alexander," the legendary filmmaker's warmest and most autobiographical
film. Criterion's five-disc set presents not only the U.S. theatrical version --
recipient of the 1984 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as
three other Oscars -- but also, for the first time on home video in the U.S. the
original five-hour television version. Also included is Bergman's own
feature-length documentary "The Making of Fanny and Alexander"; $59.95. A
second, two-disc edition will include the Academy Award-winning U.S. theatrical
version with commentary by Peter Cowie, along with a bonus disc of extras;
$29.95 ... Warner will release this week the delightful "The Iron
Giant" in a special edition loaded with extras. This grown-up fairy
tale for kids and adults -- about a friendly metal giant from outer space that
arrives on Earth -- was sorely overlooked at the boxoffice but should be in
every movie fan's collection. (Posted November 15)

From TV to Video:"The Andy Griffith Show: The Complete First Season,"
a four-disc set with 32 episodes, under $30 from Paramount ... "Buck
Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Series," a five-disc set with
32 episodes of the 1979 series starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray, $89.98 from
Universal ... "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Seven," a
six-disc set, $59.98 from Fox ... "The Commish -- Season One,"
22, $59.98 from Anchor Bay ... "Frasier: The Complete Final
Season," a four-disc set with 23 episodes, under $40 from Paramount ...
"The Kids in the Hall: The Complete Season Two," a four-disc
set, $59.95 from A&E Home Video ... "Smallville: The Complete Third
Season," a six-disc set with 22 episodes, $59.98 from Warner. Also on
video this week: A&E Home Video will release the 1978 British Thames Television
production of the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of
"Macbeath," with
Judi Dench starring as Lady Macbeth and Ian McKellen as Macbeth, on DVD for
$24.95 ... "He Sees You When You're Sleeping" is a 2002
telefilm about a self-absorbed stock broker killed in a freak golf course
accident who must perform an act
of selflessness back on Earth in order to get into heaven, from Ardustry Home
Entertainment on DVD. (Posted November 15)

Buzzin' the 'B's:"Simple Revenge" (2003) is a thriller about an amoral woman who
will do anything to get what she wants, including sleeping with her boss'
husband, committing murder, and then framing the detectives who investigate the
case, from MTI Home
Video on VHS and DVD ... "Lethal Dose" (2003) is a sci-fi
thriller about a group of political activists who get more than they bargained
for when they raid a lab that experiments on animals and in turn become lab
rats, from First Look Home
Entertainment on VHS and DVD. (Posted November 15)

For the Kids:
Paramount will release videos of two Nick standbys this week: "All Grown
Up: O' Brother," two animated episodes of the grown-up rugrats, $9.95
VHS
and $16.99 DVD (with 2 bonus episodes); and "Jimmy Neutron: Attack of
the Twonkies," a recemtly aired double-length episode, $9.95 VHS and
$16.99 DVD (with three bonus episodes) ... "Kangaroo Jack: G'Day
U.S.A.!" (2004) is a direct-to-video animated sequel to 2003's
"Kangaroo Jack," from Warner... Two nifty releases from Walt Disney this week:
"A Wrinkle in Time," a live-action adaptation of Madeleine
L'Engle's best-selling and Newbery Award-winning novel about three kids who go
on a cosmic quest to
find a missing astrophysicist, on $24.99 DVD and $19.99 VHS; and "Eloise
at Christmastime" a 2003 telefilm featuring Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise
and Julie Andrews as the Nanny in an inimitable Christmas adventure, on $24.99
DVD and $19.99
VHS ... "First Snow of Winter" is a 1998 animated adventure
that charts the heartwarming odyssey of a lively young duckling named Sean who
becomes separated from his family during the annual Southern migration,
featuring the voices of Tim
Curry, Ashley Johnson, and Miriam Margoyles, from Columbia TriStar on $9.95 DVD
... Columbia TriStar will also release this week "The Wubbulous World of
Dr. Seuss: The Cat's Fun House," the latest installment from the Nick
TV series;
the VHS edition contains two episodes while the DVD has three; both sell for
$9.95. (Posted November 15)

Special Interest:
Paramount will release "Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet, #*%$#@!!
Uncensored" (2004), an hour-long tribute to the entertainer featuring
Dave Chappelle, Margaret Cho, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Harvey, Chris
Rock, Denis Leary, Robin Williams and more ... World Wrestling Entertainment has
released three harrowing wrestling videos: "The Rise and Fall of ECW
(Extreme Championship Wrestling)" ($14.95 VHS and $29.95 DVD),
"Unforgiven," featuring seven feet of terror and 326 pounds of
pure evil embodied in Kane ($19.95 VHS and $24.95 DVD), and "Summer
Slam: Let the Games Begin" ($19.95 VHS and $24.95 DVD) ... On a
gentler
note, Buena Vista will release "Tiger Woods: The Authorized DVD
Collection," a three-disc set that traces the life and career of the
champion golfer, $49.99. (Posted November 15)

Coming Soon:
Due December 7 from Miramax is "Infernal Affairs" (2002), a
Hong Kong actioner that's already become a cult film, starring Tony Leung, Andy
Lau, Anthony Wong and Eric Tsan, on DVD only ... The delightfully funny zombie
romp
"Shaun of the Dead" arrives on $23.98 VHS and DVD on December
21 from Universal ... Sour comedy "Little Black Book,"
starring Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, Kathy Bates and Ron Livingston, arrives
on VHS and DVD on January 4 from Columbia TriStar ... Also on that day Columbia
TriStar will release director Stacy Peralta's surfing documentary "Riding
Giants" on DVD only ...
On January 11 Paramount will release silly comedy "Without a
Paddle," starring Dax Shepard, Matthew Lillard and Seth Green, on VHS
rental and DVD ... New Line will release on January 18 thriller
"Cellular," starring
Kim Basinger, Chris Evans and William H. Macy, on VHS rental and DVD ...
Another weak comedy, "First Daughter," starring Katie Holmes,
will arrive on $19.98 VHS and DVD from Fox on January 25 ... Baseball spoof
"Mr.
3000," starring Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett, Chris Noth and Paul
Sorvino, swings to $24.99 VHS and DVD from Buena Vista on February 1 ... Also on
that day Universal will release director Mira Nair's version of William
Makepeace Thackeray's
"Vanity Fair," starring Reese Witherspoon as Becky Sharp, on
$23.98 VHS and DVD ... And, on February 8, New Line will release Stephen Fry's
adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "Vile Bodies," here titled "Bright Young
Things."(Posted November 8)

DVD Collectibles:
Some great films are due on DVD this week. First up is "Gone With the
Wind Collector's Edition" (1939), directed by Victor Fleming, George
Cukor (uncredited) and Sam Wood (uncredited) and starring Clark Gable, Vivien
Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil,
Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, George Reeves, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen,
Victor Jory and Alicia Rhett. The four-disc set features "GWTW" digitally
restored
in "Ultra Resolution" (which allows viewers to see parts of the images which
were never visible before and contains much sharper detail than in conventional
Technicolor release prints), a remastered soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1, more
than five hours of extra features and a full-color reproduction of the original
22-page souvenir program; $39.92 from Warner. "The Marx Brothers Silver
Screen Collection" is a beautifully boxed six-disc set that includes
the Marx brothers first five films -- "The Cocoanuts," "Animal Crackers,"
"Monkey Business," "Horse Feathers," "Duck Soup" -- plus a bonus disc of extras
and a 40-page collectible booklet; $59.98, from Universal. Also from Universal
comes "The W.C. Fields Comedy Collection," a five-disc set with
"The Bank Dick," "My Little Chickadee," "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man," "It's a
Gift" and "International House"; $59.98. And, lastly, there's the wonderful
guilty pleasure of the exploitation horror film "I Drink Your
Blood" (1971), starring Bhaskar, John Damon, Lynn Lowry and Tyde
Kierney, with digital sound and image restoration. This one has got to be seen
to be believed; from MTI Home Video. (Posted November 8)

From TV to Video:"Friends: The Complete Eighth Season" is a four-disc set with
23 episodes, $44.98 from Warner ... "The L Word: The Complete First
Season" is a five-disc set, $69.99 from Showtime ... "More
Tales of the City" is a two-disc set of the miniseries based on the
stories of Armistead Maupin; $29.98 from Ardustry Home Entertainment ...
"Star Trek Voyager:
The Complete Fifth Season" is a seven-disc set with 25 episodes, under
$100, from Paramount. (Posted November 8)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
Miramax has a special two-disc DVD release this week with "Zatoichi: The
Blind Swordsman" and "Sonatine," two Japanese
thrillers, both starring Beat Takeshi Kitano. In "Zatoichi," the blind samurai
helps villagers
overcome a ruthless gang; in "Sonatine," a Tokyo hit man is sent to Okinawa to
help settle a dispute between two other gangs and ends up being ambushed
himself; on DVD only for $29.99 ... "Lost Junction" stars Neve
Campbell as a sultry
Southern bell on a murderous road trip after killing her older husband, from MGM
on VHS rental and DVD ... "Witness to a Kill" is an actioner
about a secret service agent who must infiltrate an international smuggling and
poaching ring and
rescue two captured civilians, from First Run Features on VHS rental and DVD ...
Tartan Video has two dark releases this week: "The Hillside
Strangler," a dramatization of the infamous Angelo Buono and Kenneth
Bianchi reign of murderous
terror in Los Angeles that saw the kidnapping, torture and rape of 15 women,
starring C. Thomas Howell and Nicholas Turturro, on VHS rental and DVD in
R-rated and unrated versions; and "Suspicious River," starring
Molly Parker as a wanton
woman who teams up with a dangerous drifter in a tale of longing, sex and
violence, with music by the Cowboy Junkies, on VHS rental and DVD. (Posted
November 8)

For the Kids:
Koch Vision has some interesting releases this week: Two new installments in the
award-winning "Popular Mechanics for Kids" series (inspired by Popular Mechanics
magazine), "Rip-roaring Rollercoasters and All Access to Fun!"
with four
episodes on rollercoasters, Universal Studios Island of Adventure and under the
big top, and "Super Sea Creatures and Awesome Ocean
Adventures," $12.98 VHS and $14.98 DVD; and "Brum: Snow Thieves
and Other
Stories," featuring seven episodes in which the little classic car
helps the zany grownup residents of Big Town, fixes everyday mishaps and keeps
the bad guys from snowballing out of control; $12.98 VHS and $14.98 DVD.
(Posted November
8)

DVD Collectibles:
Warner Home Video will release this week the second installment in its
"The Looney Toons Golden Collection." The
four-disc Volume 2 set includes more than 60 digitally re-mastered and uncut
animated shorts; each disc in the collection features 15 animated classics and
is
dedicated to a different Looney Tunes star and their celebrated pals. Disc 1:
Bugs Bunny Masterpieces; Disc 2: Road
Runner and Friends; Disc 3: Tweety & Sylvester and Friends; Disc 4: All Stars:
On Stage & Screen: Assortment of popular cartoon favorites such as Back Alley
Uproar, Book Revue, Corny Concerto and many others. $64.92. A less elaborate
affair is The
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volume
2, a two-disc set with 30 remastered and restored cartoons culled from
the Golden Collection Volume 2, $26.99 ...
The "Ultimate Party Collection: Dazed and Confused
Flashback Edition/Fast Times at Ridgemont High Special Edition" is a
cool double-disc set ($27.98), from Universal, which includes "Fast
Times at Ridgemont High Special Edition" (1982), directed by Amy
Heckerling and starring
Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold,
Phoebe Cates, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards, Ray
Walston, Brian Backer and Robert Romanus; and "Dazed and Confused
Flashback Edition"
(1993), directed by Richard Linklater and starring Matthew McConaughey, Ben
Affleck, Parker Posey, Milla Jovovich, Cole Hauser, Jason London, Wiley Wiggins,
Sasha Jenson and Adam
Goldberg. Both films are loaded with extras ... At last: 1954's animated
"Animal Farm" will be released in a restored version by Home
Vision Entertainment. Based on the classic novel by George Orwell, "Animal Farm"
tells the story of a group
of farm animals who successfully revolt against their cruel human owner,
only to be enslaved anew by the unscrupulous pig Napoleon, whose slogan is "all
animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Presented in
its 50th Anniversary edition, "Animal Farm" combines superb animation, brilliant
Technicolor, and a
host of memorable characters to create a timeless fable. A must buy. (Posted
November 1)

From TV to Video:
Due this week: "Comfort and Joy," a 2003 Lifetime Original
Movie with Nancy McKeon and Steven Eckholdt, from Warner ... "The Simple
Life 2: Road Trip,"
with 10 episodes from the second season, from Fox ... "Star Trek: The
Complete Second Season DVD
Set," an eight-disc set with 29 episodes packed in a cool plastic pod,
priced around $100, from Paramount ... "Three's Company Season
Three," a four-disc set with 22 episodes, $39.98, from Anchor Bay ...
"The West
Wing: The Complete Third Season," a four-disc set with 22 episodes,
$59.98, from Warner. (Posted November 1)

Buzzin the 'B's:"Fate" is a psychological thriller about a pair of city
detectives on the hunt for a serial killer who's using his victims as puppets in
a psychotic story he is trying to sell. Will the cops unravel the plot and
apprehend the killer before he finishes the
last act? Stars Michael Pare, Philip Michael Thomas and Lee Majors. On VHS
rental and DVD from MTI Home Video. (Posted November 1)

For the Kids:"SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge for
Hire" is the latest SpongeBob compilation, featuring five animated
episodes on $9.95 VHS and eight episodes on $16.99 DVD, from Paramount ... New
to DVD this week is the animated "Babes in Toyland" (1997),
featuring the
voices of Christopher Plummer, Jim Belushi, Lacey Chabert and Charles Nelson
Reilly, $14.95 from MGM ... For kids ages 2--8 the canine rock band RAGGS Kids
Club Band spend the holidays in Telluride, Colorado for a rock 'n' roll
Christmas in the live-action
"RAGGS Kids Club Band Holiday Jam, Rockin' the Rockies," on
$9.95 VHS and $12.95 DVD, from RAGGS Llc. (www.raggs.com). (Posted November
1)

Special Interest:
Columbia TriStar has two Cirque Du Soleil offerings this week:
"Cirque Du Soleil: Fire Within," a three-disc set with
13-episodes from the behind-the-scenes TV program, $39.95; and "Cirque
Du Soleil: La Nouba,"
a two-disc set of a live performance filmed at the Walt Disney World Resort in
Orlando, $28.96 ... Eagle Rock Entertainment has three DVDs for car buffs this
week: "America's Favorite Cars: Fabulous Fords of the 50s," an
in-depth look at the
history of Ford's automobile development until the end of
the 1950s; "America's Favorite Cars: The Complete
Mustang," with vintage commercials, rare footage and a
showcase of beautifully restored classics; and "America's Favorite Cars:
The Complete Corvette"; $6.97 each. (Posted November 1)

Coming Soon:
Columbia TriStar has set a December 28 release date for the wild sci fi thriller
"Resident Evil: Apocalypse," starring Milla Jovovich, Sienna
Guillory, Oded Fehr, Sandrine Holt, Mike Epps and Jared Harris, on VHS rental
and in a two-disc DVD set with more than eight hours of extras. The company is
also releasing a Collector's DVD box set with "RE 2" and "Resident Evil" for
$39.95. (Posted October 26)

From TV to Video:
Due this week are: "Cedric the Entertainer Presents: The Complete
Series," a three-disc set with 21 episodes (six which never aired),
$39.98 from Fox ... "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Complete Season
Four," an eight-disc set with 27 episodes, $119.95 from A&E Home Video
... "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes," a three-disc set with six
episodes from the acclaimed series, $39.98 from MPI Home Video ... "The
O.C.: The Complete First Season," a seven-disc set with 27 episodes,
$69.98 from Warner ... "Profiler: Season Four," a five-disc set
with all 20 episodes from the final season, $79.95 from A&E Home Video ...
"That '70s Show: The Complete First Season," a four-disc set,
$49.98 from Fox ... "21 Jump Street Season One," a four-disc
set with 13 episodes, $39.98 from Anchor Bay ... "Xena: Warrior Princess
-- Season Five," a 10-disc set with 22 episodes, $79.98 from Anchor
Bay.

Other TV shows coming to video include "Agatha Christie's Poirot: Death
on the Nile," shot on location in Egypt and starring David Suchet (as
the legendary Poirot), James Fox and David Soul, $19.95 VHS and DVD from A&E
Home Video ... WGBH Boston Video will release two dramas from Masterpiece
Theatre: "The Cazalets," a World War II family saga starring
Hugh Bonneville, Stephen Dillane and Ursula Howells, on DVD for $39.95; and
Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," starring Helen McCrory, Kevin McKidd
and Stephen Dillane, on DVD for $19.95. (Posted October 26)

Buzzin' the 'B's:"Frankenfish" is a horror thriller from Mark A.Z. Dippe, the
director of "Spawn," about a deadly fish, smuggled out of Asia, that gets free
and finds its way to the Louisiana bayou, where it terrorizes a swamp community,
on VHS rental and DVD from Columbia TriStar ... "Ritual" is a
melodrama that digs deep into the lives of a seemingly perfect Malibu family
that, beneath the visage of success, breeds alcoholism, lack of personal
respect, deceit and illicit sex, from UrbanWorks Entertainment on VHS rental
and DVD ... "Spooks & Creeps" is a collection of award-winning
horror shorts, including Marcus Wagner's "Freakshow," a parable of freaks,
gluttony and transformation, introduced by Alice Cooper; Jeff Stark's
"Desserts," about an unsuspecting man who becomes the victim of a vengeful sea
creature, starring Ewan McGregor; Michael Horowitz and Gareth Smith's
"Doppelganger," about a man who finds himself doing bad things in his sleep,
starring Rebecca Gayheart and Timothy Olphant; and three others; $19.95 on DVD
from Vanguard Cinema. (Posted October 26)

For the Kids:
The latest release in the Baby Einstein series, "Baby Noah Animal
Expedition" is an educational journey around the world to visit exotic
sites and animals in an interactive adventure for toddlers and their parents, on
$14.99 VHS and $19.99 DVD (www.babyeinstein.com) ... Paramount has several kids
releases this week: "Boohbah: Showman," with three episodes
from the TV series that features the educational adventures of five colorful
atoms of energy, $16.99 DVD; "Cyberchase: Starlight Night," two
episodes from the PBS Kids series, featuring the adventures of the CyberSquad
gang, for ages 6-11, on $16.99 DVD; "Secret Central: Have You
Heard?" featuring episodes from the series inspired by the popular line
of Hasbro dolls and online animated characters, on $16.99 DVD; and two Nick Jr.
standbys: "Blue's Clues: ABC's, 123's and More DVD Collection,"
a three-disc set, priced under $30 and "Dora the Explorer: Dora's
Christmas."(Posted October 26)

Special Interest:
Acorn Media will release this week "Broadway's Lost Treasures
II," a compilation of 18 rare Broadway performances, from the archives
of the Tony Awards, seen only in their original telecasts, including Angela
Lansbury and Bea Arthur in "Mame," Robert Morse in "How to Succeed in Business,"
Katharine Hepburn in "Coco," "Les Miserables," more; $24.99 on DVD ...
"When I Fall in Love: The One and Only Nat King Cole"
is a documentary on the singer, with performances from his short-lived TV
series, assembled from original kinescopes of the live TV broadcasts, from Eagle
Rock Entertainment ... Facets Video will release this week Michael Rubbo's
"Waiting for Fidel," a 1974 documentary in which the filmmaker
travels to Cuba to make a film about Fidel Castro but finds himself eternally
waiting for the Cuban leader to make an appearance. The film veers from serious
to hilarious as Rubbo travels throughout Cuba, discussing politics and life with
the Cuban people, but never getting an audience with Castro (he's still
waiting); $29.95 on DVD ... "Jackie Mason: A Night at the
Opera" is a live performance by the outrageous comedian, recorded at
London's Royal Opera House, from Kultur/SRO on DVD for $24.95 ... White Star
Video will release "La Cosa Nosta: The New York Mafia," a
documentary that looks at the history of organized crime from its roots in
Southern Italy through Prohibition to the era of the Gotti family, $14.95 on DVD
... Indie video label Gyromart will release two DVDs based on the popular and
wild Web series about muscle-car driving, pistol-packing "uber-babes" the Bikini
Bandits: the flash-animated feature "Bikini Bandits Save
Christmas" and "Bikini Bandits: Briefs, Shorts &
Panties," a collection of original webisodes featuring the "bad" girls;
both on DVD for $19.99 each. (Posted October 26)

Coming Soon:
The studios will release a slew of films in early and late December, possibly to
garner last-minute Christmas shopping. Due December 7 from Columbia TriStar is
jungle thriller "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid," on
VHS rental and
DVD ... On December 14 DreamWorks will release the Tom Cruise-Jamie Foxx starrer
"Collateral" on $23.99 VHS and as a two-disc DVD set ... Also
on December 14 MGM will release two indie films: theater documentary
"This So
Called Disaster" and Swedish comedy "Kitchen Stories,"
both on VHS rental and DVD ... Six titles will grace December 21: Jonathan
Demme's "The Manchurian Candidate," starring Denzel Washington,
Meryl
Streep and Liev Schreiber will arrive from Paramount on VHS rental and DVD; MGM
will release Cole Porter musical bio "De-Lovely," starring
Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, on VHS rental and DVD; Family film "Two
Brothers," about a pair of tigers separated as cubs and reunited years
later, will be released on $23.98 VHS and DVD by Universal; Universal will also
release action flop "Thunderbirds" on $23.98 VHS and DVD; Fox
will release
comedy "Napoleon Dynamite" on VHS rental and DVD; and Lions
Gate will release indie outing "Danny Deckchair," starring Rhys
Ifans and Miranda Otto, on VHS rental and DVD.

And for post-Christmas sales, Fox will release delightful comedy-drama
"Garden State" from first-time director Zach Braff, on VHS
rental and DVD on December 28 ... MGM will release Michael Winterbottom's weird
futuristic drama
"Code 46," starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton, on VHS
rental and DVD on December 28 ... also on that day Lions Gate will release the
sleeper indie film "Open Water" on VHS rental and DVD ... And,
meow,
on January 18 Warner will release the disappointing Halle Berry outing
"Catwoman," on VHS rental and DVD. (Posted October
19)

DVD Collectibles:
There's a host of fine films getting special DVD treatment this week. Leading
the pack is the "Ed Wood Special Edition" (1994), directed by
Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill
Murray, Jeffrey Jones, Patricia Arquette and Vincent D'Onofrio. The DVD includes
lots of extras, including a deleted "Que Sera Sera" scene with Bill Murray
singing the classic song with a mariachi band in a meat locker ... The Criterion
Collection will release three wonderful films this week: Georges Franju's
"Eyes Without a Face" (1960 -- France), about a brilliant,
obsessive doctor who attempts a radical surgery that could restore his beloved
daughter's once-beautiful face, but at a horrifying price. Lauded as a true
rarity of horror cinema, "Eyes Without a Face" has influenced countless films in
its wake and stunned audiences around the world with its shocking, yet poetic
imagery; "Fat Girl" (2001 -- France), a bold
dissection of sibling rivalry and female adolescent sexuality that follows the
summer vacation of 12-year-old Anais, who is fat, and her sister, Elena, a
teenage beauty; and "Secret Honor" (1984), a wild screen
adaptation of Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone's play about President Nixon:
Sequestered in his home, a disgraced Nixon arms himself with a bottle of scotch
and a gun to record memoirs that no one will hear. Surrounded by the silent
portraits of past presidents, Nixon resurrects his past in a passionate attempt
to reconcile his failed political career. Directed by Robert Altman and starring
Philip Baker Hall in a tour de force solo performance ... First Run features has
put together a six-disc set of all six of Michael Apted's "Up" films ("Seven
Up," "7 Plus Seven," "21 Up," "28 Up," "35 Up" and "42 Up"). Granada Television
began the series in 1964 with the original concept to interview 14 children from
diverse backgrounds from all over England, asking about their lives and their
dreams for the future; every seven years Apted has been back to talk to the same
subjects, ultimately creating an extraordinary look at the structure of life in
the 20th century. "The Up Series Boxed Set" will sell for
$99.95. (Posted October 19)

From TV to Video:
Series due this week: "Arrested Development Season One,"
a three-disc set with 21 episodes, $39.98 from Fox ... "Greg the Bunny:
The Complete Series,"
a two-disc set with all 13 episodes, $26.98 from Fox ... "SpongeBob
SquarePants: The Complete Second
Season," a three-disc set with 40 episodes, priced under $40 from
Paramount ... "Stargate SG-1 Season Seven,"
a five-disc set with 22 episodes, $69.96 from MGM ... and "Xena: Warrior
Princess -- Season
Five," a 10-disc set, $79.98 from Anchor Bay. (Posted October
19)

Buzzin' the 'B's:"The Ghosts of Edendale" (2003) is a supernatural-thriller
about a couple who buy a house in the Edendale district of Los Angeles -- next
to Hollywood -- and discover the hill on which they live is haunted by old-time
movie stars, from Warner on VHS and DVD ... In "Border Blues" a
dangerous and unpredictable smuggler (Eric Roberts) on the Mexican-U.S. border
attempts to help a Russian woman and her daughter sneak into the States, getting
involved with a corrupt cop (Erik Estrada) and linking him to a mail-bomb killer
in Los Angeles; also stars Gary Busey as an L.A. cop. From MTI Home Video on VHS
and DVD ... "The Hole," from Miramax, stars Keira Knightley and
Thora Birch as two co-eds who join some prep school friends in ditching their
weekend field trip to hide and party in an abandoned bomb shelter. Unfortunately
for them, they can't leave, and what started out as a spontaneous adventure
turns into several days worth of a fight for survival; on VHS and DVD.
(Posted October 19)

Special Interest:
4Kids Entertainment will release this week four unedited DVD collector's
editions of two hot manga series, "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Shaman King." Unlike the
American broadcast versions, these editions include many of the
features "censored" by U.S. standards: Religious symbols, violence, and sexually
provocative content have been restored. The releases will also feature newly
recorded English language tracks with the original cast, as well as the original
Japanese tracks and English subtitles. The four titles, at $19.98 each and
containing three episodes, are "Yu-Gi-Oh! Volume 1: The Shadow Games,"
"Yu-Gi-Oh! Volume 2: The Insector Combo," "Shaman King Volume 1: A Boy Who
Dances With Ghosts" and "Shaman King Volume 2: Perfect
Possession."(Posted October 19)

Coming Soon:
Warner will release on November 16 "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie," an
animated feature based on the popular Japanese comic book, animated TV series,
video game and trading cards franchise, on $19.96 VHS and DVD ... On December 28
DreamWorks will release "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron
Burgundy," starring Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate, in rated and
unrated editions, on $22.99 VHS and DVD ... Also on that day, MGM will release
"Wicker Park," starring Josh Hartnett, Rose Byrne, Matthew
Lillard and Diane Kruger, on VHS rental and DVD ... New Line will release on
January 4 "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," starring John
Cho and Kal Penn, in rated and "Extreme" unrated editions, on VHS rental and DVD
... M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village," starring Joaquin
Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleeson, Cherry
Jones and Bryce Dallas Howard, on $24.99 VHS and DVD, from Buena Vista ... And,
on February 8, New Line will release "The Notebook," starring
Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Sam Shepherd and Joan
Allen, on VHS rental and DVD. (Posted October 12)

DVD Collectibles:
The Criterion Collection will release this week "The Battle of
Algiers" (1965), one of the most influential films in the history of
political cinema. Gillo Pontecorvo's epic focuses on the harrowing events of
1957, a key year in Algeria's struggle for independence from France. Shot in the
streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film vividly recreates the
tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. The
three-disc set features a new high-definition digital transfer of the feature
film plus seven documentary features. In French with English subtitles ...
Warner has too musical DVDs for release this week: "That's
Entertainment: The Complete Collection," a four-disc giftset, with each
film remastered and presented in 5.1 surround, plus a fourth disc of extras:
"That's Entertainment" (1974), "That's Entertainment,
Part 2" (1976) and "That's Entertainment! III" (1994), for $49.92 ... and
Stanley Donen's 1954 "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,"
starring Howard Keel, Jane Powell and Russ Tamblyn. The 50th anniversary
two-disc set ($26.99) includes the theatrical CinemaScope (2.55:1) and
alternate widescreen (1.75:1) versions of the film as well as extras. And, last
but not least, Paramount will release nine Jerry Lewis films for the first time
on DVD: "The Bellboy," "Cinderfella," "The Delicate Delinquent," "The
Disorderly Orderly," "The Errand Boy," "The Family Jewels," "The Ladies' Man,"
"The Patsy," and "The Stooge" ($14.99 each), as well
as a special
edition of "The Nutty Professor."(Posted October
12)

From TV to Video:
Due this week are "CSI: The Complete Fourth Season,"
a six-disc set with 23 episodes, priced under $70 from Paramount ...
"Dream On: The First & Second Seasons," a five-disc set with 29
unedited episodes, $59.98 from Universal ... "5 Days to
Midnight," a two-disc set of the 2004 Sci Fi Channel miniseries, $24.98
from Lions Gate ... "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment: The Complete Second
Season," a four-disc set with 23 episodes, priced under $30 from
Paramount ... "Kingdom Hospital," a four-disc set with 13
episodes, $49.95 from Columbia TriStar ... "Punk'd: The Complete Second
Season," a two-disc set, priced under $20 from Paramount ...
"The Ren & Stimpy Show: The Complete First & Second
Seasons -- Uncut," a three-disc set, priced under $30, from Paramount
... "Salem's Lot: The Miniseries," the 2004 TNT miniseries,
$19.98 from Warner ... "Taxi: The Complete First Season, a
three-disc
set with 22 episodes, priced under $30 from Paramount ... and "The Wire:
The Complete First Season," a five-disc set with 13 episodes, $79.99
from HBO Video. (Posted October 12)

Buzzin' the 'B's:"White Rush" (2003) is a thriller about five friends on a
camping trip who stumble on a drug deal gone bad and decide to reap the
benefits, only to find themselves being tracked done by one of the dealers,
starring Judd Nelson and Louis Mandylor, from Monarch Home Video on VHS and DVD
... "Terminal Error" (2002) is a sci-fi thriller about a
computer virus that takes on a life of its own and worms its way through the
city, causing widespread panic and destruction, staring Michael Nouri and
Timothy Busfield, from MTI Home Video on VHS and DVD. (Posted October
12)

For the Kids:
Due this week are "Harold and the Purple Crayon: The Complete
Series," a two-disc set of all 13 episodes of the HBO Family series,
packed with a 16-page activity book, $24.95 from Columbia TriStar ... Columbia
TriStar will also release two single discs from the series: "Harold and
the Purple Crayon," with two episodes, and "Harold and the
Purple
Crayon: Harold in the Dark, also with two episodes, $12.95 each.
(Posted October 12)

Special Interest:
For theater-lovers, Paramount will release "Broadway: The American
Musical," a three-disc set of the six-part PBS series on the history of
American
musical theater, with five hours of bonus materials including additional
performances, interviews, and a "Wicked: The Road to Broadway" featurette;
$59.99. (Posted October 12)

Coming Soon:
Due from Universal on November 2 is the wacky British "Ali G
Indahouse," a 2002 feature surfacing here on $22.98 VHS and DVD ...
Timed to coincide with the U.S. remake "The Grudge" starring Sarah Michelle
Gellar comes the very scary original "Ju-On: The Grudge," on
VHS rental and DVD from Lions Gate ... On December 7 Universal will release
"The Bourne Supremacy," starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente,
Brian Cox, Julia Stiles and Joan Allen, on $22.98 VHS and DVD ... Also on
December 7 Fox will release "DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story,"
starring Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller and Rip Torn on VHS and DVD
... "I, Robot," starring Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, Alan
Tudyk, James Cromwell and Bruce Greenwood, will lumber to VHS and DVD on
December 14 from Fox ... Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews return to "The
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement," due December 14 from Buena Vista
on $24.99 VHS and DVD ... Also on that day Universal will release the melodrama
"The Door in the Floor," starring Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger,
Elle Fanning and Jon Foster, on $23.98 VHS and DVD ... And, to kick off the New
Year on January 4, Fox will release "Alien vs. Predator,"
directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova and Lance
Henriksen, on VHS and DVD; and Warner will release on that day
"Troy," directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Eric Bana,
Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and Brendan Gleeson, on VHS and as a
two-disc DVD set. (Posted October 5)

DVD Collectibles:"The Decline of the American Empire" (1986), director Denys
Arcands' provocative look at sex, life and love among a group of Canadian
intellectuals (the prequel to his most recent film, "The Barbarian Invasions"),
starring Dominique Michel,
Dorothee Berryman, Louise Portal, Pierre Curzi and Remy Girard, from Koch Lorber
... "Friday the 13th -- From Crystal Lake to Manhattan, Ultimate
Edition" is a five-disc set that features the entire collection of
Paramount's eight "Friday the
13th" films, two-per-disc, plus a fifth disc dedicated to extras, priced around
$60 ...
"The Five Obstructions"
(2003), directed by Lars von Trier and Jorgen Leth is a fascinating cinematic
experiment in which the Danish director challenged his mentor, director Jorgen
Leth, to remake his classic 12-minute 1967 short, "The Perfect Human" (a film
that von Trier admires greatly
and claims to have seen more than 20 times) five different times, but each time
von Trier put forward obstacles, constraining Leth to rethink the story and the
characters of the original film; from Koch Lorber ... "Tanner
'88" (1988), directed and
written by Robert Altman, an HBO minseries in which the pair created a
presidential candidate, ran him alongside the other hopefuls during the primary
season, and presented their media campaign as a cross between soap opera and TV
news. Mirroring and magnifying
the age of made-for-television presidents, and featuring appearances by
real-life political figures such as Bob Dole, Kitty Dukakis, Pat Robertson,
Gloria Steinem and others, "Tanner '88" engages contemporary politics with wit
and insight. Stars Michael Murphy, E.G.
Marshall, Harry Anderson, Cynthia Nixon, Sandra Bowie; from The Criterion
Collection in a two-disc set. (Posted October 5)

From TV to Video:"The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers,"
two volumes from the 1986 anime TV series -- restored and remastered with 5.1
surround: "Tortuna" and "Supertroopers," $14.98 each from Koch Vision ...
"The Best of Unsolved Mysteries: Ghosts," a four-disc set from
First Look Home Entertainment ... "Dawson's Creek: The Complete Fourth
Season," a four-disc set with 23 episodes, $49.95 from Columbia TriStar
... "Midsomer Murders, Set Four," five episodes from the
top-rated U.K. mystery series, $59.99 DVD and $79.99 VHS from Acorn Media ...
"North
and South: The Complete Collection" (1985), a five-disc set of the 1985
miniseries, $69.98 from Warner ... "Poirot 10," featuring three
episodes of Agatha Christie's fastidious sleuth, starring David Suchet, $29.99
from Acorn Media
... "Roswell Season Two,"
a six-disc set with 21 episodes, $59.98 from Fox ... "What's Happening!!
The Second Season," a three-disc set with 22 episodes, $29.95 from
Columbia TriStar ... "What's New Scooby-Doo? Volume 4: Merry Scary
Holiday," a 2004 Scooby-Doo Christmas Special plus three episodes, from
Warner. (Posted October 5)

On the Indie Front:
Ardustry Home Entertainment will release "In the Shadows"
(1998), starring Joely Richardson, Molly Parker and Aden Young, about a pair of
slackers, Cynthia and Buck, who are seduced by the world of wealth when Cynthia
takes a job as a caretaker in charge of the beautiful, wealthy, but terminally
ill Eleanor (Joely Richardson) and the pair scheme to romance Eleanor into
marrying Buck and bequeathing her fortune to him. A percentage of profits will
be donated to charities funding breast
cancer research; $14.98 on DVD. (Posted October 5)

Special Interest:
Two political outings this week: "Horns and Halos" is a
2002 documentary on the travails of "Fortunate Son" bio of George W. Bush and
the unlikely connection between Bush, a discredited author and an underground
publisher, from Go Kart Films (a new independent home entertainment company).
The film won Best Documentary at the 2002 New York Underground Film Festival;
$24.98 ... "The War Room" is the acclaimed 1993 documentary on
the 1992
Clinton-for-President campaign, featuring George Stephanopoulos and James
Carville and directed by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, from Universal.
(Posted October 5)

From TV to Video:
Series due this week include "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,"
a three-disc set with six episodes from the acclaimed series, $39.98 from MPI
Home Video ... "Crank Yankers Season 1: Uncensored," a
two-disc set with 10 uncensored episodes from the debut season of Comedy
Central's top-rated series, from Paramount ... "Dark Shadows DVD
Collection 14," a four-disc set with 40 episodes from MPI Home Video
... "Ellen: The Complete Season One," a two-disc set with 11
episodes, $39.95 from A&E Home Video ... "Homicide: Life on the Street:
The Complete Season Five," a six-disc set, $99.95 from A&E Home Video
... "In Living Color Season 2," a four-disc set with 26
episodes, $39.98 from Fox ... "Mr. Bean: The Animated Series, Set
3," a two-disc set,
$29.95; also available as two separate single discs ("Grin and
Bean It" and "The Ends Justify the Beans"), $19.95 each, from A&E Home Video ...
"Star Trek: Voyager: The Complete Fourth Season," a seven-disc
set with 26 episodes, priced under $100, from Paramount ... "Strangers
With Candy: Season 3," a two-disc set with all 10 episodes from the
third and final season, from Paramount ... "Tales of the Unexpected, Set
1," a four-disc set with 25 episodes from Season 1 and 2 with darkly
humorous tales of the weird, inspired by the work of Roald Dahl, $59.99 from
Acorn Media ... "Touching Evil 2," featuring three episodes
from the hit series, $39.99 from WGBH Boston Video ... and "Silk
Stalkings," a six-disc set with 22 episodes, $59.98 from Anchor Bay.
(Posted September 28)

For the Kids:"Tonka: Tough Truck Adventures -- The Biggest Show on Wheels"
is a new direct-to-video feature-length CGI animated adventure based on the toy
line, from Paramount ... "Static Shock: The New Kid" and
"Teen Titans: Divide and Conquer," are both compilations
featuring six episodes from Season One of the kids TV series from the Warner DC
Comics Kids Collection, $8.93 VHS and $19.97 DVD ... "Snowed Under: The
Bobblesberg Winter Games" is an animated adventure featuring Bob the
Builder and his heavy equipment friends as they save the day for the Winter
Games,
$9.99 VHS and $14.99 DVD from HIT Entertainment. (Posted September
28)

Special Interest:
Paramount will release this week three additions to their "Ken Burns'
America Collection" on DVD: "Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio,
a 1991 PBS documentary on the history of radio from 1906 to 1955; "Huey Long," a
1985 PBS documentary on the Louisiana governor; and "Thomas Hart Benton," a 1988
PBS documentary on the pioneering American artist; Paramount will also release
"Ken Burns' America Collection Gift Set," a seven-disc set with
seven Ken Burns' PBS programs: "Empire of the Air," "Huey Long," "Thomas Hart
Benton," "Brooklyn Bridge," "The Congress," "The Shakers," and "The Statue of
Liberty," $129.99 ... Laugh out live: MPI Home Video will release
"George Carlin: Complaints & Grievances," a DVD of Carlin's
12th HBO special; Docurama will release ""Eric Bogosian's Wake Up and
Smell the Coffee," a 2001 featured based on Bogosian's critically
acclaimed stage show ... For Manga lovers there's "Ghost in the Shell:
Stand Alone Complex Volume 2," the second set of four half-hour
episodes of the new anime series based on the anime feature and manga, in two
versions: A one-disc standard edition with the four episodes in Dolby 5.1
surround ($24.98) and a three-disc special edition with one disc containing the
four episodes in Dolby 5.1 surround, plus extras; one disc containing the four
episodes in DTS 5.1 surround, plus extras; and a third disc containing the
original series soundtrack CD ($49.98), from Manga/Bandai/Anchor Bay ... and,
for more high-brow culture there's Leonard Bernstein's Young People's
Concerts With the New York Philharmonic," a fabulous nine-disc set
containing 25 of Bernstein's greatest concerts -- broadcast on CBS -- throughout
his 14 years of leading the series, which began in 1958; $149.95 from Kultur ...
"Baryshnikov's Nutcracker" from 1977, featuring Baryshnikov
with the American Ballet Theater at the Kennedy Center Opera House in
Washington, also from Kultur; and "Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy
Working With Time," a 2001 documentary on the artist who uses the
natural world as his canvas and palette with unique installations, from
Docurama. (Posted September 28)

Coming Soon
Triangular love story "A Home at the End of
the World," starring Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn and Sissy Spacek,
comes home on DVD and VHS rental on November 2 from Warner ... The Frank Oz
comic remake of "The Stepford Wives," with a
stellar cost including Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Glenn
Close, Christopher Walken and Jon Lovitz, arrives November 9 on DVD and VHS
rental from Paramount ... Warner will release Richard Linklater's follow-up to
"Before Sunrise," "Before Sunset," starring Ethan Hawke and
Julie Delpy, on DVD and VHS rental on November 9 ... Fox will release on
November 9 the lackluster
thriller "The Clearing," starring Robert Redford, Helen Mirren
and Willem Dafoe, on DVD and VHS rental ... And also on that day, Xenon Films
will release "A Day Without a Mexican," a satire about what
happens to
California when all the Hispanics leave the state, on DVD and $14.99 VHS ... On
November 23 two comedies will debut on video: "Sleepover,"
starring "Spy Kids'" Alexa Vega, from MGM on DVD and $19.98 VHS; and Steven
Spielberg's
"The Terminal," starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones,
from DreamWorks on DVD and $15.95 VHS ... Sumptuous martial arts drama
"Hero," starring Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung
Man-Yuk,
Zhang Ziyi, Chen Dao Ming and Donnie Yen, will arrive from Miramax on November
30 on VHS and DVD ... and lastly, on December 21 Buena Vista will release the
tale of "King Arthur," starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley,
on DVD
and $24.99 VHS. (Posted September 21)

DVD Collectibles:
The highlight of the week, of course, is the release by Fox of the
much-anticipated "Star Wars Trilogy"
in a four-disc set featuring the first three "Star Wars" epics with a fourth
disc of goodies, $69.98 ... The folks at The Criterion Collection have put
together a beautiful package of John Cassavetes' films: "John
Cassavetes: Five Films," with
stunning new transfers of "Shadows," "Faces," A Woman Under the Influence," The
Killing of a Chinese Bookie," and "Opening Night," by the director called a
genius, a visionary, and the father of independent film. The eight-disc boxed
sells for $124.95 ... Federico
Fellini's "La Dolce Vita"
(1961), starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg and Anouk Aimee, finally
arrives on DVD, restored and remastered, from Koch Lorber Films for $34.98, with
commentary by film critic Richard Schickel and other goodies ...
"Epidemic"
(1968), from controversial director Lars von Trier
("Breaking the Waves," "Dogville," "Dancer in the Dark"), is the bizarre story
of a director and a writer who create a script about a mysterious plague that
engulfs Europe, only to find their horrific scenario coming true in real life
... or does it? From Home Vision Entertainment. Home Vision will also release
this week "The
Demon" (1977), by famed director Nomura Yoshitaro ("Castle of Sand,"
"The Incident") and best-selling Japanese mystery author Seicho Matsumoto, a
chilling and complex tale of betrayal and murder as a strange relationship
develops between a man, his
wife, and his
mistress, with a shocking climax; and "Zero Focus" (1961), a
brooding tale of intrigue and suspense -- also from Yoshitaro -- in which a
young woman hides a dark secret from those around her with devastating
consequences, photographed in
moody black and white in near documentary style. (Posted September
21)

From TV to Video:
Series due this week:
"Felicity Season 3: Junior Year DVD Collection," a five-disc
set with 17 episodes, $59.99 from Buena Vista ... "MADtv: The Complete
First Season," a three-disc set with 19 episodes, $39.98 from Columbia
TriStar ...
"Mr. Show: The Complete Fourth Season," a two-disc set with 10
episodes, $34.98 from HBO Video ... "Popular: Season One," a
six-disc set, $59.99 from Buena Vista.

Other TV shows-to-video: "The First Churchills,"
a four-disc set of the drama series chosen to launch Masterpiece Theatre in
1971, $79.99 VHS and DVD from Acorn Media ... "The Pallisters: The
Complete
Collection," a 12-disc set of the entire 26-part PBS miniseries,
$124.99, also from Acorn Media ... and Ardustry Home Entertainment will release
"We'll Meet Again," a 2002 telefilm adaptation of Mary Higgins
Clark's suspenser
starring Laura Leighton and Brandy Ledford, on one disc for $24.98. (Posted
September 21)

Buzzin' the 'B's:"Asylum of the Damned" (Hellborn) (2003) is a horror thriller
about a young student at a mental hospital who uncovers a satanic creature
feeding on the minds and bodies of the institute's patients, starring Tracy
Scoggins, Matt Stasi, Julia Lee and
Bruce Payne, from Columbia TriStar on VHS rental and DVD ... "Dog Gone
Love" (2003) is a romantic comedy about a male writer who is mistaken
for being gay by a female veterinarian's assistant and who goes along with the
"lie" in order to
do research for an upcoming novel -- until the pair fall for each other, from
MTI Home Video on VHS rental and DVD. (Posted September 21)

For the Kids:
Two interesting animated films for kids arrive from First Run Features this
week: War Game," based on a true event from World War I when
German and British troops stopped the war to play a game of football on
Christmas Day, 1914, directed
by Michael Foreman, who tackles this huge theme of war with illustrations and
narrative that is gentle and reassuring for children, featuring the voice of
Kate Winslet; and "Prince Cinders," based on Babette Cole's
best-selling book that is a funny
take on "Cinderella" with the three ugly sisters incarnated as three
muscle-bound, mean brothers; both are on DVD at $14.95 each ... for the very
young there's three releases from the Brainy Baby series (for ages 1-5) that
creates videos to inspire learning and develop
cognitive skills in youngsters: "Brainy Baby English,""Brainy Baby Spanish" and "Brainy Baby
French," $15.95 VHS and $19.95 DVD ... the latest direct-to-video
adventure of Thomas the Tank
Engine has been released by HIT Entertainment: "It's Great to Be an
Engine," featuring seven new stories of Thomas and his friends on the
Island of Sodor, available on $16.99 DVD, $19.99 DVD with an on-pack wooden
railway engine, $11.50
VHS and $13.75 VHS with an on-pack wooden railway engine ... and, lastly,
there's "Blue's Clues: Bluestock," featuring four animated
episodes from the popular preschool show, from Paramount. (Posted September
21)

Special Interest:"500 Nations" (1995) is a compelling eight-part documentary
that explores
America's Indian heritage, hosted by Kevin Costner. Timed to coincide with the
opening of the National Museum of the American Indian by the Smithsonian
Institution on September 21, this powerful miniseries takes a historical look at
the indigenous people of North
and Central America from pre-Columbian times through European contact in the
late 19th century. The show takes up four-discs -- with a personal introduction
by Costner -- and includes a bonus CD-ROM fifth disc that looks further into
Native American history;
$59.98 from Warner ... "Buried in the Sand: The Deception of
America" is a shocking documentary -- by political commentator Mark
Taylor -- that offers uncensored footage that shows the incomprehensible
brutality of the Saddam Hussein regime
in Iraq as a reason that the United States had a "moral obligation" to invade
the country; the film is postulated to directly counter some of the messages of
Michael Moore in "Fahrenheit 9/11"; $24.98 on DVD from CYHL Pictures/Westlake
Entertainment Group ...
More
atrocities: First Run Features will release this week a new three-disc boxed
set, "Hitler and the Nazi," spotlighting three documentaries on
the Holocaust: "The Architecture of Doom," "The Eye of Vichy" and "Nazi Medicine
and The Cross and the
Star," $59.95; the company will also release "Homo Sapiens
1900," a documentary that explores the history of eugenics, race
hygiene and the quest to improve the human race, on DVD for $29.95 ... There's a
lighter note this week from
Eagle Rock Entertainment: "Norman Granz, Jazz in Montreux,"
featuring performances from the prestigious jazz festival, including the Oscar
Peterson Trio,
Milt Jackson & Ray Brown, Ray Bryant, Ella Fitzgerald, more, on DVD for $11.98;
and "Fly Jefferson Airplane,"containing vintage performances by
the seminal psychedelic rock group, featuring new interviews with the group's
Grace Slick,
Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casaday, Paul Kantner and Spencer Dryden,
$19.98 on DVD ... From Kultur/SRO Entertainment comes The Official 2004
Wimbledon DVD," a chronicle of the 118th Wimbledon tennis tournament
from
opening day ceremonies through the championship finals, $24.95; the company is
also releasing to DVD four Wimbledon titles never-before on DVD: "Legends of
Wimbledon: John McEnroe," "Legends of Wimbledon: Bjorn Borg," "Wimbledon 1980
Final: Borg vs.
McEnroe" and "Wimbledon 1981 Final: Borg vs. McEnroe," $14.95 each ... and,
lastly, Palm Pictures will release "How to Draw a Bunny," a
90-minute documentary on the fascinating life of artist Ray Johnson that looks
deep into the
comical, eye-catching and mysterious world of underground idol Johnson,
centering around his puzzling suicide on Friday, January 13, 1995 -- To many
enthusiasts of his works, as well as the general public, his suicide was thought
to be Johnson's "last performance"'
on $29.98 VHS and DVD. (Posted September 21)

DVD Collectibles:
Due this week is "THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's
Cut" of the 1971 film that started the "Star Wars" director on his
career. The sci-fi film about a dystopic future, starring Robert Duvall, Donald
Pleasence and Maggie McOmie, has been digitally restored with Dolby 5.1 surround
sound, and is available as a two-disc Collector's Edition for $26.99, loaded
with features, and as a single-disc version for $19.97 SRP; from Warner ...
The 2003 Emmy-winning "Angels in America," starring
Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Justin Kirk, Ben Shenkman, Mary-Louise
Parker, Jeffrey Wright, Patrick Wilson, James Cromwell, Michael Gambon
and Simon Callow, will arrive this week as a two-disc set, from HBO. (Posted
September 14)

From TV to Video:
Lots of series making their way to DVD this week: "Diff'rent Strokes:
The First Season," a three-disc set, $29.95, from Columbia TriStar .
.. "Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete First Season," in a
five-disc set with 22 episodes, $44.98, from New Line ... "Law & Order:
The Fourteenth Year," a three-disc set, $59.98, from Universal ...
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent: The Third Year," a three-disc
set, $59.98, from Universal ... "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The
Fifth Year," a three-disc set, $59.98, from Universal ... "Lost
in Space Season Two: Volume One," a four-disc set with 16 episodes,
$39.98, from Fox ... "Sanford & Son: The Fifth Season," a
three-disc set with 25 episodes, $29.95, from Columbia TriStar ... "7th
Heaven: The Complete First Season," a six-disc set, priced at around
$50, from Paramount ... "The Simpsons Gone Wild,"
a single disc with "Homer's Night Out," "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday," "The Mansion
Family" and "Homer the Moe," $14.98 from Fox ... "Survivor:
All-Stars," a seven-disc set with 10 episodes, priced under $40, from
Paramount. (Posted September 14)

Buzzin' the 'B's:"The Hazing" is a horror thriller about a group of college
students who plan to initiate new frat members in a possessed house -- a house
that has other plans, starring Brad Dourif, Brooke Burke, Tiffany Shepis and
Nectar Rose, from MTI Home Video. (Posted September 14)

For the Kids:
For the preschool set, HIT Entertainment will release Barney's Colorful
World! LIVE!" a concert video that captures the preschool dino-star's
third stage show extravaganza, which launched in New York's Radio City Music
Hall in January 2003, on $12.99 VHS and $16.99 DVD. (Posted September
14)

Special Interest:"Heir to an Execution," an incisive documentary that looks at
the case against and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as spies (on June
19, 1953), directed by their granddaughter, Ivy Meeropol, arrives this week
exclusively on DVD from HBO Video. (Posted September 14)

DVD Collectibles:
Highlight of the week is the "Alfred Hitchcock Signature
Collection," a nine film deluxe boxed set with eight
never-before-released Hitchcock classics along with the previously released
"North by Northwest Special Edition," $99.92: "Dial M For
Murder,""Foreign Correspondent,""Suspicion,""The Wrong Man,""Stage Fright,""I
Confess,""Mr. And Mrs. Smith,""Strangers on
a Train," each available separately at $19.97 (except "Strangers on a
Train,") which sells for $26.99; from Warner ... MGM will release this week
"Judgment at Nuremberg Special Edition" (1961), directed by
Stanley Kramer and starring Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Burt Lancaster,
Marlene Dietrich, Montgomery Clift, Richard Widmark and Maximilian Schell ...
Just in time for the start of the school year, Criterion presents "Great
Adaptations," four classic literary adaptations together in a single
set at a special price ($99.95). Featuring the previously released DVD editions
of David Lean's "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist," Peter Brook's "Lord of
the Flies," Ernest B. Schedsack and Merian C. Cooper's "The Most Dangerous Game"
... Home Vision Entertainment will release two hard-boiled yakuza films:
"Graveyard of Honor" (1976) and "Street
Mobster" (1972), both by action director Kinji Fukasaku
(co-director of "Tora! Tora! Tora!") ... And file this under "How Many Times Can
One Film Be Re-released": Anchor Bay will release a spectacular four-disc set of
George A. Romero's 1979 classic "Dawn of the Dead," dubbed the
Ultimate Edition. Included is the theatrical version of the film, the extended
version and the sought-after European version, plus more than 13 hours of
extras. The boxed set also includes a special mini-reproduction of the IDW
Publishing "Dawn of the Dead" Comic Book Issue #1, as well as a special
multi-page foldout with special feature details, version descriptions, and
original mall directory layouts from the Monroeville Mall; $49.98 ... And, last
but not least, Miramax is releasing a slick three-disc "Clerks 10th
Anniversary Edition," featuring the theatrical and director's cuts of
the film as well as a plethoria of
extras, $34.99. (Posted September 7)

From TV to Video:
TV series due this week: "Alias: The Complete Third Season," a
six-disc set with 22 episodes, $69.99 (Buena Vista) ... "American
Dreams: Season 1 Extended Music Edition," a seven-disc set, $89.98
(Universal) ... "Angel Season Four," a four-disc set with 22
episodes, $59.98 (Fox) ... "Columbo: The Complete First
Season," a five-disc set, $59.98 (Universal) ... "Everwood: The
Complete First Season," a six-disc set with 23 episodes, $59.98
(Warner) ... "Keen Eddie: The Complete Series," a four-disc set
with 13 episodes, priced around $40 (Paramount) ... "Magnum P.I.: The
Complete First
Season," a four-disc set, $59.98 (Universal) ... "Mork & Mindy:
The Complete First Season," a four-disc set with 24 episodes, priced
around $30 (Paramount) ... "The Twilight Zone," a six-disc set
with all 43 episodes of the UPN series, $59.98 (New Line) ... and
"Without a Trace: The Complete First Season," a four-disc set
with 22 episodes, $59.98 (Warner).

Other TV shows coming to DVD this week: "The Martian
Chronicles," the 1980 miniseries based on Ray Bradbury's book, starring
Rock Hudson, Bernadette Peters and Robert Beatty, in a two-disc set with 20
minutes of extra footage, from MGM ... Four episodes of the 1995 TV series
"Goosebumps," based on R.L. Stine's books: "Haunted
Mask II,""Night of the Living Dummy III,""The Werewolf of Fever Swamp," and "Welcome to Dead
House," $9.98 each from Fox ... "The Burning Bed," the
1984 TV movie that gave Farrah Fawcett a chance to stretch out into more serious
roles, debuts this week on DVD from MGM ... Two Lifetime Original Movies come to
DVD this week: "Homeless to Harvard," starring Thora Birch, and
"Obsessed," directed by John Badham and starring Jenna Elfman,
both from New Line. (Posted September 7)

For the Kids:
Koch Vision revs things up this week with two releases from the "Brum" TV series
-- about a little classic car who regularly helps the zany grownup residents of
the Big Town get out of misadventures -- that airs on the Ready, Set, Learn!
preschool block on Discovery Kids and TLC: "Brum: Crazy Chair Chase and
Other Stories" and "Brum: Soccer Hero and Other
Stories," on $12.98 VHS and $14.98 DVD ... Columbia TriStar will
release the latest adventures of the animated TV series "Maggie and the
Ferocious Beast": Maggie and the Ferocious Beast: Puzzles and
Picnics," in six adventures on $14.94 DVD and five adventures on $9.95
VHS ... Buena Vista will release this week a gigantic collection of
"Bear
in the Big Blue House" Muppet titles on $9.99 VHS and $14.99 DVD (each
including four sing-along songs): "A Bear for All Seasons," "Sense-Sational,"
"Shapes, Sounds & Colors," "Dance Party," "Potty Time With Bear," "Everybody's
Special," "Sleepytime With Bear & Friends," "Heroes of Woodland Valley" and
"Tiddy Time With Bear" ... The folks at Disney will release three new titles
bringing together the princesses from Disney's classic animated films in "The
Disney Princess Collection." Featuring Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Cinderella, Mulan,
Pocahontas and Snow White, the titles are "Disney Princess Sing Along
Songs: Once Upon a Dream" ($14.99 VHS and $19.99 DVD), "Disney
Princess Stories Volume One: A Gift From the Heart" ($14.99 VHS and
$19.99 DVD) and "Disney Princess Party: Volume One" ($19.99 DVD
only) ... Master Communications (www.master-comm.com) will release this week the
latest title in the award-winning "Families of the World" video series that
offers a documentary "day-in-the-life" glimpse into how people live in different
countries, "Families of Vietnam," a 30-minute video that
follows the daily activities of one urban and one rural kid in Vietnam; $19.95
VHS only ... For older kids Buena Vista will release Volumes 2 and 3 in the
Power
Rangers Dinothunder series: "Legacy of Power" and
"White Thunder," $14.99 VHS and $19.99 DVD each ...
"The
Best of Beakman's World" features 15 of the wackiest, most spectacular
experiments from the hip and edgy educational science TV series that aired on
both CBS and The Learning Channel, $9.95 DVD only from Columbia TriStar ... Jim
Henson's puppets go Greek in Columbia TriStar's "The Storyteller: Greek
Myths," a four-part series on one DVD that combines fantasy characters
from Henson's Creature Shop with classical actors like Derek Jacobi -- under the
supervision of Anthony Minghella -- to re-enact ancient Greek stories: "Daedalus
and Icarus," "Orpheus and Eurydice," "Perseus and the Gorgon" and "Theseus and
the Minotaur; $19.95. (Posted September 7)

Special Interest:
At the height of controversy over presidential candidate John Kerry's service in
Vietnam, First Run Features this week will release "Brothers in Arms:
The Story of the Crew of Patrol Craft Fast 94," a 2004 documentary that
looks at the facts -- not smears and innuendo -- behind the role of Kerry and
his crew in Vietnam, on DVD only ... Paramount and PBS will release "The
Creation of the Universe," an enthralling documentary that features
Nobel Prize winner Carlo Rubbia, Murray Gell-Man and world-famous physicist
Stephen Hawking explaining their complex theories about the origins and
evolution of the universe, on DVD only. (Posted September 7)

DVD Collectibles:
The Criterion Collection releases this week definitive versions of two memorable films. David Cronenberg's 1983 "Videodrome," starring James Woods and Deborah Harry, will be presented in a double-disc set with the
full-length unrated edition of the mindbending, influential film that fused social commentary with shocking elements of sex and violence, featuring groundbreaking special effects makeup by Academy Award-winner Rick Baker; and a two-disc set of
"Slackers" (1991), Richard Linklater's remarkable film that presents a day in the life of a subculture of marginal, eccentric, and overeducated citizens in and around the University of Texas at Austin. Shot on 16mm for a mere $23,000, Linklater
eschewed a traditional plot and choose instead to employ long takes and fluid transitions to create a tapestry of more than a hundred characters. Both sets are loaded with extra features. (Posted August 30)

From TV to Video:"I Love Lucy: The Complete Second Season," is a five-disc set with 31 episodes, priced under $50 from Paramount ... "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry: Season One," four half-hour episodes on one disc, hosted by
Mos Def, from New Line ... "South Park's The Passion of the Jew," featuring three episodes ("The Passion of the Jew," "Christian Rock Hard" and "Red Hot Catholic Love"), from Paramount ... "Star Trek: The Complete First Season
DVD Set," an eight-disc set with 29 episodes packed in a cool plastic pod, priced around $100, from Paramount ... and "Touched by an Angel: The Complete First Season," a four-disc set with 13 episodes, priced under $40 from
Paramount.

Other TV shows on video: Columbia TriStar will bring to video this week the 1995 family friendly "Annie: A Royal Adventure!" which follows the exploits of Little Orphan Annie (Ashley Johnson) in England when Daddy Warbucks travels to the
British Isles to accept knighthood from the Queen, on DVD ... Also from Columbia TriStar comes "Ike: Countdown to D-Day," the 2004 telefilm starring Tom Selleck as President Eishenhower in the gripping drama that depicts the incredible
events that shaped the culmination of D-Day in 1944, on VHS rental and DVD ... Ardustry Home Entertainment will present "Mary Higgins Clark's Before I Say Goodbye," a 2003 telefilm about a politician's daughter who uncovers a conspiracy
surrounding the mysterious deaths of her husband and his business associates, on DVD ... And, from MPI Home Video, comes "Vendetta for the Saint,"
in which Roger Moore returns as Simon Templar and goes up against the Mafia in Italy, aided by a bevy of beautiful women; the 1969 NBC TV movie is available on VHS and DVD at $14.98. (Posted August 30)

On the Indie Front:
Vanguard Cinema will release three indie films this week: "Enemies of Laughter" (2000) a romantic comedy about a playwright/sitcom writer who can't get a break with women until a friend produces a documentary on the hapless scribe, starring
David
Paymer, Judge Reinhold, Rosalind Chao, Marilu Henner, Bea Arthur and Peter Falk; "The Magic of Marciano" (2000) is a coming of age story of a young boy who must cope with his emotionally disturbed mother and her antagonistic boyfriend,
starring Natassja Kinski, Robert Forster, Jason Cairns and Cody Morgan; and "The Singing Forest" (2003), a modern-day drama/fairy tale about two gay lovers killed by the Nazi during the Holocaust who are reincarnated and brought back
together in the present; all on VHS and DVD. (Posted August 30)

For the Kids:
Paramount will bring home this week "All Grown Up: Lucky 13," featuring the "grown-up" Rugrats in four adventures on $16.99 DVD and two on $9.95 VHS; "Rugrats Holiday Celebration" on DVD and VHS;
"Dora's Halloween" on $9.95 VHS and $16.99 DVD (with two bonus episodes); and three releases in the company's new Nick Jr. Baby franchise, "Curious Buddies," featuring five colorful puppets and their human friends aimed at engaging
babies 3 to 36-months-old: "Curious Buddies Look and Listen at the Park,""Curious Buddies Exploring at the Beach" and "Curious Buddies Helping at Home," on $12.95 VHS and $16.99 DVD ...
Two more Strawberry Shortcake adventures arrive this week, in their usual strawberry-scented pink packaging: "Adventures on Ice Cream Island" and "Best Pals Yet," each containing two animated adventures on $12.98
VHS and $14.98 DVD, from Fox ... Columbia TriStar will release the fourth original Cabbage Patch Kids home video, "Cabbage Patch Kids: The New Kids," in which Norma Jean helps save the school's talent show, on $9.95 VHS and $14.95
DVD ... UAV Entertainment will release this week the first two volumes in "Sabrina, the Animated Series," the "prequel" to the hugely successful "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" series: "Witch in Training" and "Bat Attack!"
on $9.99 VHS and DVD ... Lastly, for older kids, there's the family action-adventure "Splat!" that follows a troubled teen who overcomes his problems by learning to cooperate with friends and family in a paintball tournament, on VHS rental and
DVD from MTI Home Video. (Posted August 30)

Special Interest:"Chris Rick: Never Scared" is an HBO standup concert featuring material from the comedian's "Black Ambition Tour" sold-out tour as well as 13 minutes of never-before-seen footage from the concert and Rock's first solo HBO half-hour comedy
special "Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes"; on DVD from HBO Home Video ... "Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back" gives viewers a first-hand account of the heroic struggle to bring home the astronauts from their aborted mission to the moon, new to
DVD from WGBH Boston Video ... Also from WGBH Boston comes "Medieval Siege," a docu that takes a close look at the state of warfare in the Middle Ages, a time when -- 200 years before the invention of the cannon -- the feared "Warwolf"
catapult was capable of hurling boulders, bee hives and plague-infected corpses long distances to put castles under dire siege, new to DVD ... for lovers of hot Latin music, Paramount will release "Celia Cruz & Friends: A Night of Salsa," on DVD
only ... MPI Home Video has three interesting documentaries new to DVD this week: "First Steps on Mars," a fascinating docu featuring a 3-D simulation of a manned Mars landing, based on NASA research; "History of the
80s," a 10-disc set of the best and worst in people, world events, sports, science and technology culled from ABC News vaults, $89.98 for the set; and "The Hajj: One American's Pilgrimage to Mecca," an ABC News Nightline
program in which reporter Michael Wolfe takes viewers on his second Hajj (or pilgrimage) to Mecca ... And, last but not least, Paramount will release the direct-to-DVD sequel "Trekkies 2," a docu that follows "Star Trek" fans where "no man has
gone before." (Posted August 30)

Coming Soon:
Due Nov. 16 is the sequel-of-sorts to "Pitch Black," "The Chronicles of
Riddick" (2004), directed by David Twohy and starring Vin Diesel, Colm
Feore, Thandie Newton and Judi Dench, theatrical and unrated director's cut
editions, on VHS rental and DVD from Universal ... Due Dec. 7 is "Maria
Full of Grace" (2004), a hit film from Columbia about a young woman who
becomes a drug mule to realize her dream of a new life, from Warner on VHS
rental and DVD.

Warner Home Video will release on December 7 a remarkable 10-disc DVD set:
"The Ultimate Matrix Collection," featuring all three "Matrix"
films together for the first time with a newly remastered picture and sound for
"The Matrix." Also included is the companion piece "The Matrix Revisited" and
the best-selling "The Animatrix," plus five entirely new DVDs packed solid with
brand-new supplemental materials that encompass every aspect of the Matrix
universe, including two new audio commentaries on each film, "Enter the Matrix"
video game footage, more than 100 deep-delving featurettes/documentaries and
much more: 35 Hours of extras overall. Suggested retail price is $79.92. Warner
will also release "The Ultimate Matrix Collection Limited Edition" that throws
in a limited-edition Neo mini-bust figurine and an 80-page CollectorÕs Book, for
$129.92 SRP. (Posted August 23)

DVD Collectibles:
The Criterion Collection will release this week the classic "I
Vitelloni" (1953) Federico Fellini's semi-autobiographical
masterpiece of sharply drawn character sketches about five young men who linger
in post-adolescent limbo dreaming of adventure and escape from their small
seacoast town ... First Run Features will release two important Iranian films
this week: "Harmoun" (1990), a psychological comedy/drama that
follows 24 hours in the life of a bumbling Iranian intellectual as he tries and
fails to write his dissertation about love and faith while trying to cope with
his wife, a successful artist, who wants a divorce; and "The
Cow" (1969), by Iranian cinematic master Dariush Mehrjui, about a man
in a small village in Iran who cherishes his cow more than anything in the
world, for both emotional and economic reasons; both on DVD ... Also from First
Run is the exceptional documentary, "Merton: A Film Biography"
(1984), about the Trappist monk hailed as a prophet and censured for his
outspoken social criticism, on DVD. (Posted August 23)

From TV to Video:
Series due this week: "The Apprentice: The Complete First
Season," a five-disc set for $59.98 from Universal ... "Benny
Hill: Complete and Unadulterated: The Naughty Early Years: Volume 1," a
three-disc set with 11 episodes from 1969-1971, never-before broadcast or
available in the U.S., in full-length, remastered hour-long installments,
$49.95. from A&E Home Video ... "Boys Meets World Season 1" is
a six disc set for $49.99 from Buena Vista ... "Dallas: The Complete
First and Second Seasons" is a five-disc set with 29 episodes, $49.98
from Warner ... "Futurama: Volume 4," a four-disc set with 18
episodes from the fourth production season, $49.98 from Fox ... "Harsh
Realm: The Complete Series" is a three-disc set with all nine episodes
(six never seen on network TV) of the Chris Carter sci-fi series, $39.98 from
Fox ... "The Munsters: The Complete First Season," a three-disc
set with the original pilot and 38 episodes, $59.98 from Universal ...
"Night Gallery: The Complete First Season" is a three-disc set
with 13 episodes plus the original pilot movie, $59.98 from Universal. (Posted August 23)

Other TV shows coming to home video: "At Home With the Braithwaites:
Complete First Series," the cutting edge U.K. series seen on BBC
America that shows what happens when an already dysfunctional family strikes it
rich, in a two-disc set for $39.99 from Acorn Media ... Acorn will also release
"Wodehouse Playhouse: The Complete Collection," a six-disc set
of all 20 episodes of the PBS series, featuring all the characters from all
corners of the funny and eccentric Wodehouse universe, $79.99. (Posted August 23)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
Miramax will release the cult Hong Kong cult martial arts action comedy
"Shaolin Soccer" (2001), starring Stephen Chow and Vickie Zhao,
on DVD this week, in both the U.S. and unrated Hong Kong editions on one disc.
The film follows the adventures of a grpup of misfits who form a soccer team and
use their extraordinary King Fu skills to beat their arch rivals. (Posted August 23)

On the Indie Front:
From MTI Home Video comes "Bloom" (2004), an enthralling stroy
of love, loss and lust through the minds and desires of Stephen Dedalus, Molly
Bloom and Leopold Bloom, adapted from James Joyce's "Ulysses,"
starring Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Hugh O'Conor and Patrick Bergin, on VHS
rental and DVD. (Posted August 23)

For the Kids:
Comedians Tim Conway and Caroline Rhea lend their voices to a series of
interactive Mommy & Me DVDs from Madacy Kids (www.madacy.com). The three new
releases: "Mommy & Me Fun & Friends,""Monny & Me
Splish Splash" and "Mommy & Me Lullaby & Goodnight"
feature real moms and their children inviting viewers to participate with
parent-child interactions that build learning skills and encourage bonding with
humor, songs, games and fingerplays, $14.98 each ... Two new releases from The
Brainy Baby Co. inspire babies (6 months to 36 months) to learn trhough fun,
colorful, interactive experiences with eye-catching visuals of real babies and
familiar objects; "Peek-a-Boo" and "Laugh &
Learn," $15.95 VHS and $19.95 DVD ... HIT Entertainment this week will
release the latest entry in the Angelina Ballerina franchise, "The Magic
of Dance," featuring four animated and two live-action segments; the
animated episodes are voiced by Judi Dench and her daughter, Finty Williams,
while the live-action episodes feature young students from the Royal Academy of
Dance in London; $12.99 VHS and $16.99 DVD ... and, finally, for older kids
there's "Godzilla the Series: The Monster Wars Trilogy," a
three-part animated tale featuring the voices of Ian Ziering, Joe Pantoliano and
Paget Brewster, on DVD for $14.95 from Columbia TriStar. (Posted August 23)

Special Interest:
It's comedy week from The Shout! Factory with three releases from the company's
Breakout Comedy Series of standups on DVD: "Doug Stanhope," who
makes the ugly truths of modern life downright hilarious; "Pablo
Francisco," host of Si TV's "Latino Laugh Festival: The Show"; and
"Corey Holcomb," also know as the "Ghetto Dr. Phil"; each DVD
sells for $19.98 ... Docurama has two interesting releases this week: The 20th
anniversary digitally remastered edition (featuring music by Ruben Blades and an
introduction by Susan Sarandon) of "When the Mountains
Tremble," a documentary that chronicles the astonishing true story of
Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, a Quiche Indian woman who stood up for her
people and helped wage a rebellion against the opressive Guatemalan military,
$26.95; and "Ladysmith Black Mambazo: On Tip Toe," a
documentary on South African musician Joseph Shabalala and his World Music super
group (best known to most Americans for their participation on Paul Simon's
"Graceland" album), $26.95 ... "Jim Brown: All American" is a
2002 HBO Sports documentary directed by Spike Lee, from New Line ... and,
lastly, A&E Home Video will release the complete 26-episode groundbreaking
documentary series, "The World at War," packaged in an 11-disc
set for $149.95, featuring more than 12 hours of bonus programming nort seen on
TV. (Posted August 23)

More Flash:

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has confirmed that it will release its smash
sequel "Spider-Man 2" on VHS and a two-disc DVD set on Nov. 30.
Included on the DVD will be such extras as a new feature called "Enter the Web"
that allows
viewers to experience in a virtual sense what it's like to be on the set of the
film, a "making of" documentary, bloopers, and much, much more -- 10 hours of
extras, in fact. The two-disc DVD carries a suggested list price of $29.96 and
the VHS will sell for $24.97. A
DVD gift set will also be available for a retail price of $49.95, and will
include such goodies as a portfolio of artwork "inspired by" the film and a
reprint of a classic "Spider-Man" comic. (Posted August 20)

Coming Soon:
Columbia TriStar will release on October 5 Michael Moore's
controversial "Fahrenheit 9/11," just one month shy of the
November elections. The documentary will be available on DVD
(with such extras as deleted scenes and Condoleezza Rice's
9/11 Commission testimony) and VHS rental ... On October 26,
Columbia TriStar will release the gender-bending comedy
"White Chicks," starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans, on DVD and
VHS rental. (Posted August 16)

From TV to Video:
Series due this week include "Babylon 5: The Movies," a
five-disc set with five feature-length "Babylon 5" movies: "The Gathering," "In
the Beginning," "Thirdspace," "River of Souls" and "A Call to Arms," $59.98 from
Warner
... "Da Ali G Show: The Complete First Season,"
six uncut, half-hour episodes, $29.95 from HBO Video ... "Happy Days:
The
Complete First Season" (1974), a three-disc set with 16 episodes,
priced under $30 from Paramount ... "Here's Lucy," a four-disc
set with 24 episodes from Lucile Ball's third TV series, $34.98 from Shout!
Factory ... "Lateline: The Complete Series" (1998-1999), a
three-disc set with 19 episodes, including four never aired, priced
under $30 from Paramount ... and "Laverne & Shirley: The Complete First
Season" (1975-1976), a three-disc set with 15 episodes, priced under
$30 from Paramount. Fox will release this week "Redemption: The Stan
Tookie Williams Story." a 2004 telefilm starring Jamie Foxx and Lynn
Whitfield, about the founder of the Crips gang. (Posted August 16)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
Razor Digital Entertainment will release "Slammed!" a 2001
comedy about wrestling and girls, starring Justin Whalin and Zachery Bryan, on
DVD only ... "Nate and the Colonel" is a post-Civil War
adventure about a
former slave and his boyhood friend, a Confederate Colonel, who leave the ruined
South and head out West, where they encounter Indians, a renegade band of Union
Soldiers, and millions in stolen gold, from MTI Home Video on VHS and DVD.
(Posted
August 16)

For the Kids:
RAGGS LLC, a new home video company, will release this week "RAGGS Kids
Club Band Pawsuuup! Tour," the first in a news series of rock videos
for kids ages 2-8. The RAGGS Kids Club Band is an actual touring group of four
musicians
and their manager, dressed up as dogs to give kids positive music messages and a
"tail-wagging" good time. The one-hour video will be available on $9.98 VHS and
$12.98 DVD. For more info: www.raggs.com ... For elementary school children,
Thinkeroo
(www.thinkeroo.com) will release "Space Trekkers," which brings
down to Earth the intricate wonders of the Milky Way, making learning about the
Solar System fun; the newest installment in the "Way Cool Science for Curious
Kids!" series is
available on DVD and VHS for $14.95 ... For older kids, 4Kids Entertainment will
release "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Volume 11," a saga about
The Ultimate Ninja battling Ninja Turtle Leonardo, on $9.98 VHS and $14.98 DVD
... Fox
will release "Moto X Kids" (2004), about a motorcycle gang (led
by Gary Busey) that threatens to take over the local motorcross track and the
band of underage underdogs -- coached by a top-notch motorcrosser (Lorenzo
Lamas) -- who fight back;
on $12.98 VHS and $19.98 DVD ... and, finally, for kids of all ages, Disney will
release the first-ever feature-length film starring Mickey, Donald and Goofy,
the direct-to-video "The Three Musketeers," a Disney-esque
version of Alexandre
Dumas' classic swashbuckler. The animated adventure will be available on $22.99
VHS and $29.99 DVD (which is loaded with extras). (Posted August 16)

Special Interest:
Wolfe Video will release this week "Showboy," a fascinating
mockumentary that looks at a Hollywood writer (real-life "Six Feet Under" writer
Christian Taylor) who gives it all up and heads to Las Vegas to fulfill his
lifelong dream of becoming a
Vegas showboy, on VHS and DVD (www.wolfevideo.com). (Posted August
16)

Coming Soon:
Snoozer "Garfield the Movie," starring Breckin Meyer, Jennifer
Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky, Bill Murray (Voice of Garfield), will purr its
way to home video on October 19 on $19.98 VHS and DVD from Fox ... Another
snoozer, "Around the World in 80 Days," starring Jackie Chan,
Steve Coogan, Robert Fyfe, Jim Broadbent, Cecile De France, will fly to $24.99
VHS and DVD on November 2 from Disney. (Posted August 9)

DVD Collectibles:
Warner Home Video has a delightful array of wonderfully creepy releases this
week under the collective title of banned, forbidden and condemned horror
classics: "The Lost Boys Special Edition" (1987), directed by
Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Edward
Herrmann, Jamie Gertz and Corey Feldman; the two-disc set of the tongue-in-cheek
vampire thriller includes a host of extras including commentary by Schumacher
and "The Lost Boys: A Retrospective" featurette ... The 1956 shocker
"The Bad Seed," directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Patty
McCormack, Nancy Kelly, Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart, with extras ... The
Bette Davis post-"What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" thriller "Dead
Ringer" (1964), directed by Paul Henreid and also starring Karl Malden
and Peter Lawford, in which Davis plays two sisters, one good, one evil, with
extras ... "Village of the Damned/Children of the Damned"
double-disc set with 1960's "Village of the Damned" starring George Sanders,
Barbara Shelley, Michael Gwynne and Laurence Naismith, about the human spawn of
extraterrestrials, and its sequel, "Children of the Damned" (1963), starring Ian
Hendry, Alan Badel and Barbara Ferris, with extras ... and Tod ("Dracula")
Browning's classic "Freaks" (1932), a weird drama that unfolds
among the sideshow freaks in a traveling circus, remastered from rare nitrate
film elements, with such extras as three alternate endings, a documentary and
the special message prologue that was added for the theatrical release.

From Home Vision Entertainment comes the controversial "Sada,"
(1998 - Japan), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi and starring Hitomi Kuroki,
Tsurutaro Kataoka,
Norihei Miki and Kippei Shiina. "Sada" is a compelling erotic thriller, based on
the true
story of Sada Abe, a Japanese Geisha, who murdered and castrated her lover on
May 19, 1936. Director Obayashi explores Sada's past: her rape at age
14, her descent into prostitution, and the crime of passion that ultimately
turned her into an overnight media celebrity. In Japanese with English
subtitles.

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment will release an interesting experiment this
week: Two volumes of Three Stooges shorts in colorized and b&w versions using a
new production process called ChromaChoice" that allows viewers to toggle
between the original b&w version and its colorized version in a seamless manner
using the DVD remote. The two volumes are "Goofs on the Loose"
featuring "Men in Black" (1934), "The Sitter Downers" (1937), "Punch Drunks"
(1934) and "Playing the Ponies" (1937); and "Stooged and
Confoosed," featuring "Violent Is the Word for Curly" (1938), "You
Nazty Spy!" (1940), "No Census, No Feeling" (1940) and "An Ache in Every Stake"
(1941); $24.95 each. (Posted August 9)

From TV to Video:
Series due on video this week include "Good Times: The Third
Season," a three-disc set with 24 episodes, $29.95 from Columbia
TriStar ... "Manchild: The Complete First Season," a two-disc
set with seven episodes, $29.98, from Koch Vision ... "Star Trek: The
Next
Generation -- Jean-Luc Picard Collection," a two-disc set containing
seven favorite Picard episodes; priced under $20, from Paramount. And, last but
not least, Acorn Media will release the 1982 miniseries "Smiley's
People," the follow-up to John Le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,
Spy," starring Alec Guinness as aging British spy George Smiley and Patrick
Stewart as his nemesis, Soviet agent "Karla"; digitally remastered in a
three-volume set, $59.99 DVD and $69.99 VHS. (Posted August 9)

On the Indie Front:
Ardustry Home Entertainment has a wild slate of Halloween titles due on DVD this
week: "America's Most Haunted Inns" and "America's Most
Haunted Town" (New Hope, Pa.), both TV documentaries from 2001, present
astonishing images of ghosts, paranormal sightings, and haunting experiences ...
"Breeders" (1998) is a gothic horror feature about a meteorite that crash-lands
onto a Boston College campus releasing an alien beast ... A Halloween party in
the country turns into a horrifying blood-fest when the teenage guests are
murdered one by one in "The Fear" (1998), which stars Ann
Turkel and Vince Edwards ... Louis Gosset Jr. and Amy Locane unleash a
supernatural power that can only be quashed by an ancient ritual ceremony in
"The Mummy" (aka "Legend of the Mummy" and "Bram Stoker's
Mummy") (1997) ... Asia Argento and Julian Sands star in a blood curdling and
erotic take on "Phantom of the Opera" (1998), directed by
horror legend Dario Argento ... "Killer Tongue" (1996) is a
supernatural tale in which the mysterious New Mexico desert and a meteor provide
the backdrop for an unearthly abduction of a woman's body ... In "Jack
Frost" (1997) a freak accident with a truckload of genetic material
turns a serial killer into a murderous snowman; in "Jack Frost
2" (1997) the body of the thawed murderer is refrozen and brought back
to life in -- of all places -- the Caribbean ... In "The
Surgeon" (aka "Exquisite Tenderness") (1995) a doctor hatches a twisted
plan of revenge that turns a local hospital into a laboratory of human guinea
pigs; the film stars Peter Boyle and Malcom McDowell. Each film has a price tag
of $9.98, except the "Haunted" titles, which sell for $14.98 each. (Posted
August 9)

For the Kids:
There's plenty of kids product due this week. For the wee ones, Classical Fun
Music (www.cmkids.org) will release "The A to Z Symphony," a
kind of Music Appreciation 101 for children featuring 26 one-minute videos set
to the melodies from such great composers as Beethoven, Vivaldi, Bach and
Strauss; each vignette is preceded by a letter of the alphabet and a sample of
vocabulary words; $14.95 VHS and $19.95 DVD ... HIT Entertainment will release
the latest title in the award-winning preschool "Kipper" video series:
"Kipper Helps Out," featuring six animated adventures of the
adventuresome pup and his friends that encourage imaginative play while
highlighting cooperation, courtesy and kindness; $6.99 VHS and $9.99 DVD ...
Paramount will release this week two perennial favorites: "Blue's Clues:
Blue's Room - Snack Time Playdate," four animated episodes on VHS and
DVD; and "Fairly OddParents: Channel Chasers." a feature-
length animated film based on the Nick TV series ... For older kids there's
"What's New Scooby-Doo? Volume 3: Halloween Boos and Clues,"
featuring Scooby and the gang in six monster-themed episodes, $9.95 VHS and
$14.95 DVD, from Warner Home Video ... Warner also will release
"Cartoon Network Halloween: 9 Creepy Cartoon Capers," a DVD
compilation of nine viewer-favorite episodes from "The Grim Adventures of Billy
& Mandy," "Johnny Bravo," "Ed, Edd n Eddy" and "Dexter's Laboratory," $14,97.
(Posted August 9)

Special Interest:
Eagle Rock Entertainment will release this week
"The Who: Live at the Isle of Wight," The Who's legendary concert of
August 30, 1970, available for the first time on DVD in DTS surround, featuring
a 40-minute interview with Pete Townshend, $19.98 ... AnimEigo will release four
DVD releases in its new line of "Metal Munching Maniacs" that
highlights the sport of Robotic Combat: "Gourmet Damage" ($14.98), "Robot Club &
Grille MAYhem" ($19.98), "Robot Assault"($19.98) and "2003 Nationals"
($19.98). (Posted August 9)

Much ado about nothing:"Seinfeld" is coming to home video, according to a report in
The Hollywood Reporter. Columbia TriStar will release the pilot and first three
seasons of the show as two four-DVD sets as well as combined in a boxed gift set
on Nov. 23, just before
the holiday shopping season. Each individual release will include about 12 hours
of new content and have a suggested list price of $49.95. The gift set will have
a list price of $119.95 and will include such extras as a limited-edition script
from co-creator Larry David,
"Monk's Diner" salt-and-pepper shakers and collectible playing cards. Extra
features on the releases include audio commentaries by cast members, deleted
scenes and never-aired stand-up comedy footage of Jerry Seinfeld. (Posted
August 5)

Green Friday:
The wait is "Ogre": DreamWorks Home Entertainment will release "Shrek
2," the #1 comedy of all time and biggest animated picture ever on DVD
and VHS on Friday, Nov. 5. Earning more than $430 million at the boxoffice,
"Shrek 2" is the
top movie of the year, the most successful animated film of all time and the
fourth largest grossing motion picture ever. The VHS version will be priced at
$15.95 and the DVD will be available for $19.95. No info yet on DVD extras.
(Posted August
5)

DVD Collectibles:"Zorba the Greek,"
(1964), starring Alan Bates, Anthony Quinn and Lila Kedrova, restored, with such
extras as commentary by director Michael Cacoyannis, Anthony Quinn "A Lust for
Life" biography, MovieTone News footage from the premiere, and a
behind-the-scenes still gallery, from Fox Studio Classics ... "Stage and
Spectacle: 3 Films by Jean Renoir" is a three-disc set with "The Golden
Coach" (1953), "French Cancan" (1955) and "Elena and Her Men" (1956). Near the
end of his long and celebrated career, master filmmaker Jean Renoir indulged his
lifelong obsession with life-as-theater and directed three delirious films,
infatuated with the past, love, and artifice. Awash in jubilant Technicolor,
each film features the talents of three immortal film icons: Anna Magnani, Jean
Gabin, and Ingrid Bergman. The Criterion Collection presents these three
majestic films for the first time on DVD in a special three-disc box set. The
set also includes introductions to two of the films by Renoir; video
introductions by filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovich; "Jean Renoir
-- Hollywood and Beyond," part of a BBC documentary on the filmmaker; a
three-part interview with Renoir conducted by director Jacques Rivette; an
exclusive interview with set designer Max Douy; and more. $79.95. (Posted
August 2)

From TV to Video:
TV series due this week are: "The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Vol. 3," a two-disc set from Universal ...
"Knight Rider: Season One," a four-disc set with 22 episodes,
$59.98 from Universal ... "Significant Others: The Series," a
two-disc set, $24.96 from Columbia TriStar ... "Sliders: Complete Season
One & Two," a six-disc set with 23 episodes from the 1995 and 1996
seasons, $89.98 from Universal. Other TV shows making their way to home video
this week include "Comedy Central's Roast of Denis Leary --
Uncensored," on DVD from Paramount ... and "The Real
Olympics," a PBS documentary that compares the ancient Greek Olympics
to the modern games of today, on DVD from Paramount. (Posted August
2)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
Ardustry Home Entertainment will release this week on DVD
"Blind," a thriller about a homicide detective tormented by
mysterious visions of the victims of a serial killer he's tracking -- before the
bodies are discovered ... "Expecting Mercy" (2000) is a
thriller about a couple on the run who hide out in a small Wisconsin town's inn,
thinking they're safe until they discover that their every move is being
captured on camera by the inn's strange owner; on VHS and DVD. (Posted
August 2)

For the Kids:
Paramount has scheduled a slew of PBS Kids releases this week: two episodes each
from the new preschool series "Boohbah" and
"Cyberchase," and two features, "Caillou at
Play" and "Teletubbies: Again-Again!" each priced at
$16.99 on DVD ... HBO Video will release the latest two installments of
Scholastic Entertainment's interactive, animated children's program inspired by
the award-winning "I Spy" books: I Spy: Volume 3: A Thing That Flings
and Other Stories" and "I Spy Volume 4: A Rockin' Bronco and
Other Stories," on $9.95 VHS and $14.97 DVD ... The Learning Channel
and Discovery Kids' "Hi-5" variety show series, which uses pop-song and dance
routines, stories, jokes and skits to help make learning fun, debuts on home
video with three releases this week: Hi-5: Color Craze,"Hi-5: Music Magic" and Hi-5: Game Time," on
$9.94 VHS and $14.95 DVD from MGM ... Columbia TriStar will release "The
Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: The Cat's Musical Tales," which uses 3-D
animation and the puppetry of the Jim Henson Co. to bring alive three Seussian
adventures: "The Sounds All Around," "Horton Has a Hit" and "The Grinch Meets
His Max/Halfway Home to Malamaroo," on $9.95 VHS and $14.95 DVD ... For older
kids there's "Soccer Dog: European Cup," a direct-to-video
sequel to 1999's "Soccer Dog: The Movie"; the $12.95 VHS and $19.94 DVD stars
TV's Jake Thomas and Nick Moran, from Columbia TriStar ... From StudioWorks
Entertainment comes "A Time for Dancing," a touching tale of
two teenage girls who are bound by friendship and their mutual love for dancing;
the Showtime feature follows the girls as they endure the best and worst of
relationships, boyfriends, dance trials and family matters; on DVD for $14.99
... and, lastly, Fox is cashing in on the tween Bratz doll phenomenon with the
release of the animated direct-to-video feature Bratz: The Video --
Starrin' and Stylin'," on $19.98 VHS and $24.98 DVD. (Posted August
2)

This Just In:
Warner Home Video has just announced a November 23 release date for
"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." The third in the
magical series will be available on $22.99 VHS and in a two-disc DVD set for
$29.95. The DVD version
includes such extras as: A selection of mystifying exclusive never-before-seen
footage; "Creating the Vision," an interview with J.K. Rowling and the
filmmakers; three interactive memory challenge games: "Magic You May Have
Missed," "Catch Scabbers,""Quest with Sir Cadogan";
self-guided iPIX tours into Honeydukes and Professor LupinÕs Defense Against the
Dark Arts classroom; interviews with the cast lead by Johnny Vaughan and the
Shrunken
Head; "Care of Magical Creatures" animal trainers featurette;
"Choir Practice" sing-along with the Hogwarts choir;
"Hogwarts Portrait Gallery" featurette with a closer look at the various
portraits lining the walls of Hogwarts castle; "Conjuring a Scene" featurette
with an in-depth look at the making of key scenes from the film; theatrical
trailers of all three Harry Potter films;
Electronic Arts game preview; DVD-ROM PC capable features include Wizard Trading
Cards and a Hogwarts Timeline. (Posted July 28)

Coming Soon:
Due September 21 is "Mean Girls," a very nasty teen girl comedy
starring Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Rachel McAdams and Tim Meadows, from Paramount
on DVD and VHS rental ... Due September 28 "Super Size Me," a
tongue
in-cheek -- and burger in hand -- documentary look at the legal, financial and
physical costs of America's hunger for fast food, from Columbia TriStar on DVD
and VHS rental ... Also on that day, Fox will release "The Hunting of
the President,"
a 2004 documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman, on the 10-year campaign to
destroy Bill Clinton, based on the New York Times best seller, on DVD and VHS
rental ... Viewers will be "Saved!" October 5 when Mandy Moore,
Macaulay
Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Heather Matarazzo, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan and
Mary-Louise Parker make fun of "higher" education, from MGM on DVD and VHS
rental ... And, finally, on October 19 Universal will release Stephen ("The
Mummy") Sommers'
"Van Helsing," starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale, on
DVD and $22.98 VHS. (Posted July 27)

DVD Collectibles:
Home Vision will release four fine foreign outings this week: Three of the films
are by Claude Chabrol: "Masques" (1987) stars Philippe Noiret
in a brilliant performance as a TV game show host turned killer; "La
Ceremonie" (1995) is a shocking and unforgettable thriller in which
three women (Jacqueline Bisset, Sondrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert) set the
stage for murder, violence and betrayal; and "Story of Women"
(1988), the true story
of a working-class housewife Marie (Isabelle Huppert), who performs illegal
abortions in France during World War II, evading the Nazis, and betraying those
she loves; the fourth film is Bob Swaim's "La Balance," (1982),
a French thriller that
takes place in the sordid Paris underground; the film is considered the French
"Dirty Harry."

"Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" contains the first
four half-hour episodes of the new anime series based on the classic feature
film and manga of the same name. In two versions: A one-disc standard edition
with the four episodes in
Dolby 5.1 surround ($24.95) and a three-disc special edition with one disc
containing the four episodes in Dolby 5.1 surround, one disc containing the four
episodes in DTS 5.1 surround, and a third disc containing the original series
soundtrack CD ($59.95). The
complete series (26 episodes) will be released bimonthly on seven sets over the
next year. From Manga/Bandai/Anchor Bay.

And in case you missed it the first time it made its way to home video, don't
pass up Guillermo Del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone Special
Edition" (2001), starring Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico
Luppi and Fernando Tielve. The
ghostly tale of revenge and lust set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War is a
tour-de-force. Columbia TriStar is releasing the film -- with more extras than
the original releaSE -- in conjunction with the release to video this week of
Del Toro's "Hellboy." (Posted
July 27)

From TV to Video:"The Cisco Kid Collection Three" is a four-disc or five-VHS set
with 20 episodes from this Golden Age of Television series, $49.98, from MPI
Home Video ... "Dark Shadows DVD Collection 13" is a four-disc
set with 40
episodes, $59.98, from MPI Home Video ... "The Jeff Foxworthy Show: The
Complete First Season" is a two-disc set with 18 episodes, $29.95 from
Columbia TriStar ... "Nero Wolfe: The Complete First Season" is
a
three-volume set with eight episodes, $59.95 from A&E Home Video ...
"The New Avengers '77: Season II" is a four-disc set with all
13 episodes from the second season, $79.95 from A&E Home Video ...
"Pennies From
Heaven" is the classic BBC miniseries of Dennis Potter's wonderful
tale, starring Bob Hoskins, Cheryl Campbell and Gemma Craven, in a three-disc
set from Warner ... "The Persuaders! Set 2" is a three-disc
with 11 episodes of the spy
spoof starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, $59.95 from A&E Home Video ...
"Rocked With Gina Gershon" is a two-disc set with six episodes
of the IFC Original series about Gershon and her band, Girls Against Boys, as
they tour in support
of her film, "Prey for Rock and Roll," $29.95 from Docurama ... "Sledge
Hammer! -- Season One" contains all 22 episodes of the spoof of 1980s
cop movies and TV shows, starring David Rasche, $39.98 from Anchor Bay ...
"A
Touch of Frost Season 3" is a three-disc or four-VHS set with four
episodes from the popular U.K. police series, $49.98 from MPI Home Video ...
"V: The Complete Series" is a three-disc set with all 19
episodes from the sci-fi series,
$39.98 from Warner. (Posted July 27)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
MTI Home Video will release this week "Tropix" (2002), a
thriller about an American woman kidnapped and isolated in the wilds of Costa
Rica during a tropical vacation with her husband; on DVD and VHS rental.
(Posted July
27)

On the Indie Front:
Vanguard Cinema will release "Malibu Eyes" (2004), a stylish
suspenser about a young woman on vacation in Malibu who takes to spying on her
neighbors sensual activities, taping their adventures. She eventually discovers
that she's not the only
one doing the watching; on VHS rental and DVD. (Posted July 27)

Foreign:"Petty Crimes" (2002), about a reformed petty criminal from
France who tries to make his way as an American citizen in New York City,
directed by Manuel Cuotemoc Malle (son of Louis Malle), in French with English
subtitles, from Vanguard
Cinema on VHS rental and DVD. (Posted July 27)

For the Kids:
For pre-schoolers, HIT Entertainment will release this week the latest
direct-to-video adventures of The Wiggles: "Whoo Hoo! Wiggly
Gremlins!" in which some mischievous gremlins play tricks on the Aussie
musical stars and their friends at their
TV station, on $14.95 VHS and $16,99 DVD ... also for the young ones, Columbia
TriStar will release "Dragon Tales: Believe in Yourself,"
featuring three episodes on VHS ($9.95) and five episodes on DVD ($14.95) from
the popular PBS kids
series ... For older kids there's "Garfield and Friends," a
three-disc set with 24 episodes from the first two years of the animated kids
series, $39.98 from Fox ... and "Rocket Power: Island of the
Menehune," a feature
length animated adventure based on the Nick TV series, $9.95 VHS and $16.99 DVD,
from Paramount ... and for young teens there's "The Kids Who Saved
Summer," about three kids who spend their summer trying to save their
park from a
construction company that wants to erect a factory right where the youngsters
play, on VHS rental and DVD from MTI Video. (Posted July 27)

Coming Soon: The big
announcement for the week is the October 5 release of the smash sci-fi hit
The Day After Tomorrow," starring Dennis Quaid and Jake
Gyllenhaal, on DVD
and VHS rental from Fox ... Coming direct-to-video on August 17 is Disney's
latest animated version of "The Three Musketeers," on $14.95
VHS and DVD ... Warner will release on August 17 the Angeline Jolie-Ethan Hawke
thriller
"Taking Lives," in R-rated and unrated director's cut DVD
editions and R-rated VHS rental ... the Olsen Twins tried their hand at
big-screen adventures with "New York Minute," arriving on DVD
and $13.95 VHS from
Warner on August 17 ... On August 24 Warner will release the animated
"Clifford's Really Big Movie" on DVD and $19.96 VHS ... Marvel
Comic's "The Punisher" will thrill its way to home video on
September 7, on
DVD and VHS rental, from Lions Gate ... premiering direct-to-DVD on September 7
is the spectacular French CG-animated "Kaena: The Prophecy,"
featuring the voices of Kirsten Dunst, Richard Harris and Anjelica Huston, from
Columbia
TriStar ... Also on September 7 Columbia TriStar will release the acclaimed
Korean drama "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... And Spring," on
DVD and VHS rental ... "Soul Plane" flies to home video on
September 7 in
R-rated and unrated DVD and VHS editions, from MGM ... Mario Van Peebles'
tribute to his father, Melvin, Baadasssss! will kick its way to
DVD and VHS rental from Columbia TriStar on September 14 ... Crime Thriller
"Young
Adam," starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton, will arrive September
14 from Columbia TriStar on DVD and VHS rental ... On September 14 Fox will
release the thriller "Man on Fire," starring Denzel Washington
and Dakota
Fanning, on DVD and VHS rental ... "Coffee and Cigarettes," an
anthology of 11 short comic vignettes by Jim Jarmusch, will arrive September 21
on DVD and VHS rental from MGM ... On September 28 Universal will release the
Jim
Carrey-Kate Winslet comedy "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind" on DVD and $22.98 VHS ... On October 5, Universal will release
the post-modern take on George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead,"
starring Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames, on DVD and $22.98 VHS ... And, lastly,
Buena Vista will release on October 12 the comedy Raising
Helen," starring Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden
Panettiere, Spencer Breslin, Abigail
Breslin and Helen Mirren, on DVD and $24.99 VHS. (Posted July 20)

DVD Collectibles:The folks at
The Criterion Collection will release two fine foreign films this week:
Early Summer (1951), directed by Yasujiro Ozu and starring
Setsuko Hara,
Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima and Kuniko Miyake; and Port of Shadows (Le
Quai des Brumes) (1938), directed by Marcel Carne and starring Jean
Gabin, Michel Simon, Michele Morgan and Pierre Brasseur. "Early Summer" is a
reprise of
Ozu's favorite theme, telling the story of the Memiya family and their efforts
to marry off their headstrong daughter, Noriko. A seemingly simple story, it is
among the director's most emotionally complex -- a nuanced examination of a
family falling apart. "Port of
Shadows" follows the travels of Jean (Jean Gabin) -- an army deserter looking
for another chance to make good on life -- to the port city of Le Havre. From
the moment he arrives, Jean is caught up in a series of acts of kindness and
revenge that churn him into front
page
news. Marcel Carne's film is one of the classics of the golden age of French
cinema, starkly portraying an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their
own destinies. Both discs are loaded with extras.

Another fine foreign film is being released by First Run Features:
Seaside (Bord de Mer) (2003). Winner of the Cannes Camera d'Or
(Best First Feature) and starring Bulle Ogier, "Seaside" explores a year in the
lives of the inhabitants of Cayeux,
a small beach town in France. As the seasons change and tourists come and go,
the town's residents stay -- falling in and out of love, working at unfulfilling
jobs, gambling away savings, and dreaming of escape.

"A Tickle in the Heart" (1997) captures the past and present of
the remarkable Epstein brothers -- Max, Julie and Willie -- Klezmer music
legends on a joyous international comeback tour. It is a cinematic party with
three of the funniest and
liveliest men in music. The Epsteins are natural performers, and their sense of
life, music and family is as life affirming and intoxicating as the joyous music
they play. The documentary follows the "retired" Kings of Klezmer as they tour
from Poland to Brooklyn to
Florida, bringing a new life to their music; extras include a brief history of
Klezmer, photo gallery, more. From First Run Features.

The controversial documentary "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on
Journalism," is an examination of how media empires, led by Rupert
Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news.
The film (available on
DVD and VHS via the Internet) provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the
dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to
know. The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society
when a broad swath of
media is controlled by one person. Director-producer Robert Greenwald has
produced and/or directed 53 television movies, miniseries and features. The 77
minute program -- $9.95 VHS or DVD, plus $3.50 shipping -- can be ordered from
www.outfoxed.org.

For more escapist fare, Fox will release Predator: Collector's
Edition (1987), directed by John McTiernan and starring Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke and
R.G. Armstrong. The two-disc set
includes commentary by McTiernan, seven featurettes, outtakes, Easter eggs,
deleted scene, a documentary, more. The DVD comes just in time for the August 13
theatrical release of "Alien vs. Predator," and includes a "Movie Cash" coupon
good for one free admission
to see "AVP." (Posted July 20)

From TV to Video:Due this week
are "All in the Family: The Complete Third Season", a
three-disc set with 24 episodes, $29.95, from Columbia TriStar ... "Aqua
Teen Hunger Force: Volume Two," a two-disc set with 13 episodes from
Cartoon Network's Adult Swim late-night block series, $29.98 from Warner ...
"K Street," 10 episodes of the HBO series that mingled
fictional political
consultants (Mary McCormack, John Slattery) with real Washington figures (James
Carville, Mary Matalin, Gov. Howard Dean, Sen. Tom Daschel), $24.95 from HBO ...
"Millennium First Season," a six-disc set with 22 episodes,
$59.98, from
Fox ... "Sealab 2021: Season One," a two-disc set with 13
episodes from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim late-night block series, $29.98 from
Warner ... "Soap: The Complete Second Season," a three-disc set
with 23
episodes, $29.95 from Columbia TriStar ... and "Starsky & Hutch: The
Complete Second Season," a five-disc set with 25 episodes, $49.95, from
Columbia TriStar.

Other TV to video releases this week include "Caught on a
Train," a 1980 BBC television play starring Michael Kitchen as an
English businessman whose overnight train trip through Europe becomes an
unsettling odyssey when he shares a
compartment with a beautiful young American (Wendy Raebeck) and an imperious
Viennese Dowager (Dame Peggy Ashcroft); from Acorn Media on DVD ... and
"Foyle's War, Set 2," a four-volume set containing the second
series of the PBS
Masterpiece Theatre show about a veteran police detective who is persuaded to
remain at his job rather than enlist when World War II begins; also from Acorn
media on VHS ($79.99) and DVD ($59.99).

For the Kids:MGM has a slate of
four kids titles due this week: "Miss Spider's Sunny Patch
Kids," a CGI-animated 49-minute adventure based on the best-selling
children's book
series about Miss Spider, her husband Holley and their eight-legged bundles of
joy, with the voices of Brooke Shields and Rick Moranis; on VHS ($9.94) and DVD
($14.95) for kids aged 2 to 5 ... "Stellaluna," a 41-minute
animated adventure --
based on the award-winning book by Janell Cannon -- about a fruit bat
unexpectedly raised by a family of birds, on VHS ($9.94) and DVD ($14.95) for
kids aged 2 to 5 ... and the "Thunderbirds International Rescue
Edition," a two-disc set with
feature length movies "Thunderbirds Are Go" and "Thunderbird 6," released to
coincide with the theatrical release of the Ben Kingsley/Bill Paxton remake and
the 40th anniversary of the TV show; $14.95 each or $29.98 the set, DVD only.
(Posted July
20)

DVD Collectibles:
MGM will release this week "The Manchurian Candidate Special
Edition" timed to coincide with the summer release of Jonathan Demme's
remake starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Jon Voight. The 1962
original -- a chilling vision of psychological warfare and betrayal at the
highest levels of U.S. government -- was directed by John Frankenheimer and
starred Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury. Extras
include commentary by Frankenheimer; interviews with Sinatra, Frankenheimer and
screenwriter George Axelrod; "Queen of Diamonds" new interview with Lansbury; "A
Little Solitaire" interview with William Friedkin; Easter eggs and a photo
gallery ... Home Vision will release this week "Un deux trois
soleil" (1993 -- French), a dreamlike tale of a young girl growing up
in the slums of Marseilles with her alcoholic father (Marcello Mastroianni) and
her crazy mother. Bizarre and surreal at the same time, reminiscent of Bunuel
and Fellini, director Bertrand Blier's film is innovative, outrageous, and a
triumph for Mastroianni, in one of his most unusual roles. (Posted July
13)

From TV to Video:"Hercules: The Legendary Journeys -- Season Four" is a
nine-disc set with 22 episodes, $69.98, from Anchor Bay ... "Project
Greenlight: The Complete 2nd Season" is a three-disc set with 13
episodes of the TV series that follows the production of a film from
"greenlighting" to finished product; the Project was created by Ben Affleck and
Matt Damon; $39.99 from Miramax. (Posted July 13)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
A deep-sea drilling operation goes horribly wrong, releasing the deadliest ocean
predator that has ever roamed the seas since prehistoric times, the Carcharodon
"Megalodon" -- the giant ancestor of the Great White Shark --
60 feet and 11 tons of killing machine that destroys and devours everything in
its path; from Monarch Home Video on DVD and VHS rental. (Posted July
13)

For the Kids:
For the preschool set, the folks at HIT Entertainment has released the latest
Barney video: "Now I Know My ABCs," containing 14 sing-along
songs, such as "Alphabet Soup" and "I Am Learning to Spell My Name," that help
little ones learn about colors, shapes and letters; the VHS version ($12.99)
includes "Three Lines, Three Corners" and "The Barney Boogie" music video, while
the DVD ($16.99) includes all of the above plus two interactive games, a
jukebox, and more ... Seguing into the bathroom are two new preschool releases:
"Potty Power," a 30-minute video that teaches children potty
training in an engaging musical format, on $14.95 VHS and DVD, from Thinkeroo
(800-477-7811 or www.bigkidsvideo.com) and "High Noon in the
Bathroom," five animated adventures based on Nick Jr.'s Rubbadubbers
series with an ensemble cast of fun-loving bath toys, from HIT Entertainment on
$9.99 VHS and $14.99 DVD ... for older kids there's "Justice League:
Starcrossed -- The Movie," a 66-minute animated feature (compiled from
three of the series' episodes) featuring Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, The
Flash, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter joining forces to destroy
aliens and super-villains; $14.94 VHS and $19.97 DVD from Warner Home Video ...
Finally, from Koch Vision comes the first releases from an interesting new
series inspired by Popular Mechanics magazine, "Popular Mechanics for
Kids," which features engaging, behind-the-scenes explorations of
things kids love to explore and know more about. The first two 90-minute
releases each contain four episodes: "Radical Rockets and Other Cool Cruising
Machines" looks at "Submarines," "Cool Cars," "Boats" and "Spaceships," while
"Slither & Slime and Other Yucky Things" basks in "Garbage," "Creepy Crawlers,"
"Slimy and Slithery" and "Underground"; $12.98 VHS and $14.98 DVD. (Posted
July 13)

Special Interest:
Eagle Rock Entertainment will release this week "Joe Cocker: Live Across
From Midnight," a concert video filmed at Waldbuhnem in Berlin during
the European leg of Cocker's 1997 world tour, featuring 90 minutes of his
greatest hits, on DVD only ... Director John ("Animal House," "The Blues
Brothers") Landis' first documentary, "Slasher," takes an
incisive look at a new breed of car salesman: the slasher, called in to help
dealerships dump their stale inventory as quickly as possible. If you have an
image of the car salesman as a fast-talking huckster, you ain't seen nothin' yet
until you meet Michael Bennett, a chain-smoking auctioneer who is flown all over
the country to slash prices and clear entire lots within a few short days. From
Docurama on DVD for $24.95 ... With the popularity of Poker tournaments on TV,
Anchor Bay will release "Poker for Dummies," a 60-minute DVD --
hosted by poker champion Chris Moneymaker -- that shows you all you need to know
about betting, bluffing and poker strategy, $16.98. (Posted July 13)

DVD Collectibles:
Film noir buffs will go crazy this week with the release of nine classic noir
outings. Warner Home Video will release "The Film Noir
Collection," a terrific five-disc set with

"The Asphalt Jungle" (1950), directed by John Huston and
starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, Sam Jaffe,
John McIntire and Marilyn Monroe. Extras include commentary by film noir
specialist Drew
Casper and an introduction by Huston.

"Out of the Past" (1947), directed by Jacques Tourneur and
starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming. Includes
commentary by film noir expert Jim Ursini.

"The Set-Up" (1949), directed by Robert Wise and starring
Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter and George Tobias. Includes commentary by Wise and
Martin Scorsese.
The set has a retail price of $49.92; each film is available separately for
$14.95.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment will also release a set of noir films under
the Universal Noir Collection label, but as separate DVDs for $14.98 each:

This summer, America will celebrate 50 years of rock 'n' roll, and Warner Home
Video has the ultimate DVD set to mark the momentous anniversary. Warner's
"The History of Rock 'n' Roll" will be released for the first
time ever on DVD as a
five-disc set this week for $99.98 SRP. (The set originally was released in 1995
on VHS with 10 episodes.) Rock historians worldwide have declared the official
beginning of rock 'n' roll to be July 5, 1954, the day Elvis Presley recorded
"That's All Right" at Sun
Studio in Memphis. This pivotal moment in rock history is considered "the big
bang" in the dawn of the rock 'n' roll era, launching a movement that would
change the spirit and culture of America forever. With nearly 10 hours of
exclusive interviews, classic footage
and unforgettable concert performances from rock 'n' roll's biggest stars, fans
can experience their favorite rock moments all over again and get an inside look
at all the moments they didn't see. Features interviews and performances by
Elvis, The Beatles, The Who, U2,
Eric Clapton, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Jackson Five, Mick
Jagger, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, Ozzy Osbourne,
Jimmy Page, Jerry Garcia, Jerry Lee Lewis, Peter, Paul & Mary, B.B. King, and
many, many more
era-defining artists whose personalities and music styles have dominated the
airways and the culture of America. The 10 episodes in the set are: Episode 1:
Rock 'n' Roll Explodes, Episode 2: Good Rockin' Tonight (the 50's), Episode 3:
Britain Invades, America Fights
back, Episode 4: The Sounds of Soul, Episode 5: Plugging In (electric folk-rock
and the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival), Episode 6: My Generation (late 60's),
Episode 7: Guitar Heroes, Episode 8: The 70's: Have a Nice Decade, Episode 9:
Punk, Episode 10: Up From
the Underground (rap and MTV). (Posted July 6)

From TV to Video:
Series due this week: "Six Feet Under: The Complete Second
Season," a five-disc set with 13 episodes, $79.99 from HBO ...
"Star Trek: Voyager -- The Complete Third Season"
(1996-1997), a seven-disc set with 26 episodes, under $100, from Paramount. Also
due this week are "The Politician's Wife," a psychological
drama of political lust, sexual obsession, and revenge with a
ripped-from-the-headlines feel. The PBS
Masterpiece Theatre drama follows the story of a political sex scandal involving
the U.K.'s Minister of the Family from the point of view of the politician's
devoted wife, who initially supports him but then secretly orchestrates a power
play against him. The acclaimed
telefilm stars Juliet Stevenson, Trevor Eve and Minnie Driver. From Acorn Media
on DVD only ... Also from Acorn comes "A Fine Romance, Set 3,"
the final eight episodes of the BBC sitcom about the quirky romance between a
brainy
translator (Judi Dench) and a shy landscaper (Michael Williams); the two-disc
set sells for $39.98. "A Fine Romance, The Complete
Collection," containing all 26 episodes on six discs, is available for
$79.99. (Posted July 6)

Buzzin' the 'B's:
MTI Home Video will release this week "The Eliminator," an
actioner about a former cop who is kidnapped with six others and transported to
a jungle locale to participate in a twisted game of survival where the winner
walks away with $10
million -- but in this game, there are no winners. The thriller -- on VHS rental
and DVD -- stars Michael Rooker and Bas Rutten. (Posted July 6)

For the Kids:
Warner Home Video will release two compilations of animated super heroes:
"Batman: The Animated Series, Volume 1," a four-disc set with
28 adventures for $49.98, and "Challenge of the Super Friends: The
Complete First
Season," featuring 16 episodes of the Hall of Justice super heroes
Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman and Robin, The Flash, Hawkman, Green
Lantern and Black Vulcan, on two discs for $29.98 ... For preschoolers, HIT
Entertainment will
release a video version of the "Bob the Builder: The LIVE
Show!" stage show that thrilled more than 350,000 young fans in 175
performances around the country. Staged on a colossal arena-sized replica of
Bob's building yard, the show features
performances by Bob, Wendy, Spud and their favorite construction machines and
includes Bob's version of "Mambo No. 5." Available on $9.99 VHS and $14.99
DVD. (Posted July 6)

Special Interest:
Wolfe Video, the largest exclusive distributor of gay and lesbian home videos,
has released "Laughing Matters," a new documentary about the
careers of four leading lesbian comedians: Marga Gomeza, Suzannne Westenhoefer,
Karen Williams and
Kate Clinton. The 60-minute DVD sells for $19.95. For more info:
www.wolfevideo.com or 1-800-GET-WOLFE. (Posted July 6)